AN INTRODUCTION TO 

AGRICULTUR 




A.A.UPHAM 




Class 

Book iJb 

Copyright N" ___ 



COPYKIGirr DEPOSIT. 



AN INTRODUCTION TO 

AGRICULTURE 



AN INTRODUCTION 



TO 



AGRICULTURE 



BY 

A. A. UP HAM 

TEACHER OF SCIENCE, STATE NORMAL SCHOOL 
WHITEWATER, WISCONSIN 




NEW YORK 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 

1910 



Copyright, 1910, by 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 



Cn!.A:>6ioai 



PREFACE 



The author's thought in preparing this book has 
been to provide an elementary text on agriculture suit- 
able for use by children of the seventh and eighth grades, 
and by pupils of a correspondmg advancement in un- 
graded schools. It is hoped, also, that the book will 
not be found unsuited to the needs of Reading Circles 
and of individual students. 

The author, of course, makes no claim to complete- 
ness, nor is the book offered as a guide to farming. The 
effort has been, however, to touch those matters which 
would be most useful to pupils in our rural schools, and 
especially to give the underlying theory for many farm 
processes and practices. 

It is believed that teachers and students will find 
the summaries and questions at the end of each chapter 
especially helpful in reviewing and making definite the 
information which the chapters contain. One of the 
most important reasons for teaching agriculture in 
schools is to prepare pupils to read and understand 



vi PKEFACE 

agricultural literature. Lists of such literature and 
directions for obtaining it will be found at the end of 
the book. 

Acknowledgment is gratefully made for the use of 
material found in various Farmers' Bulletins and re- 
ports, especially those of the United States Department 
of Agriculture, and of the State Kxperiment Stations of 
Wisconsin, Vermont, and Minnesota. The author is 
also grateful to those whose names appear in connection 
with various illustrations for the use of the same. 

A. A. Upham. 

Whitewater, Wis., 1!)1(). 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGKS 

' I. The Nature of Plants 1-9 

The Science of Agriculture, 1; The Parts of a 
Plant, 2; How a Plant Grows, 4; How the Plant 
Gets Its Food, 5; Conditions of Growth, 7; Plant 
Food Must Be Usable, 8; Summary, 9; Ques- 
tions, 9. 

-II. The Soil 10-19 

The Composition of Soil, 10; Kinds of Soil, 11; 
Formation of Soil — Rock Weathering, 13; Glacial 
Action in Formation, 16; Uses of the Soil to the 
Plant, 17; Good Farm Soil, IS; Summary, IS; 
Questions and Problems, 19. 

III. Water in the Soil 20-29 

The Importance of Water to Plants, 20; The Move- 
ment of Water in the Soil, 20; Amount of Water 
Used by Different Plants, 22; Effect of Too Little 
Water in the Soil, 22; Effect of Too Much Water, 
22; How the Soil May be Made to Hold More 
Moisture, 25; The Benefits of Underdrainage, 26; 
Methods of Drainage, 27; Summary, 28; Ques- 
tions and Problems, 29. 

IV. Tilling the Soil 30-39 

Tillage, 30; Objects of Tillage, 30; Preparation of 
the Seed Bed, 32; Regulation of Moisture, 32; 
Other Uses, 33; A Risk in Tilling, 33; Importance 
of Good Tillage, 34 ; Tillage Implements — The Plow, 
34; Harrows, IMankers, and Rollers, 35; Dry 
vii 



vui CONTENTS 

CHAl'TKU PAGES 

Farming, 37; Summary, 38; Questions and ProI>- 
lems, 38. 

V. Enriching the Soil 40-53 

Elements and Compounds, 40; The Source of the 
Three Kinds of Plant Foods, 42; How These 
Foods Get Into the Plant, 43; The Use to the 
Plant of Each Kind of Food, 45; Barnyard 
Manure, 4(3; Other Ways of Enriching the Soil, 
48; Commercial Fertilizers, 48; Amendments, 4!); 
Nitrification, 50; Summary, 51; Questions and 
Problems, 52. 

VI. Leguminous Plants and Rotation of Chops 54-62 
Clover and Its Relatives, 54; Fixation of Nitrogen, 
55; Legumes as Nitrogen Gatherers, 55; Other 
Uses of Legumes, 56; Rotation of Crops, 57; Rota- 
tion Is a Weapon Against Pests, 57; Rotation 
Destroys Weeds, 58; Rotation Practically Enlarges 
the Farm, 58; Rotation Regulates the Food Sup- 
ply in the Soil, 5'J; The Norfolk System of Rota- 
tion, 60; Summary, 61; Questions, 62. 

VIL The Uses the Plant Makes of Its Food 63-70 
The Factory of Nature, 63; Oxygen, Hydrogen, 
and Carbon, 63; The Protlucts of Plant CJrowth, 64; 
How the Plant Digests Its Food Elements, 66; 
Changing Starch to Svigar, 66; Changing Sugar to 
Starch, 67; The Composition of Certain ^'^egetable 
Products, 68; The Production of Heat, 68; The 
Production of Seeds, 69; Summary, 69; Questions 
and Problems, 70. 

VIII. Plant Enemies: Weeds, Insects, and Plant 

Diseases 71-S9 

What a Weed Is, 71; Why Weeds Are Enemies, 71; 
Classes of Weeds, 72; .Vnnuals, and How to Kill 
Them, 72; Biennials, and How to Kill Them, 75; 
Perennials, and How to Kill Them, 75; Descrip- 
tion of an Insect, 77; Life History of Insects, 78; 



CONTENTS ix 

CHAPTER PAGES 

Classification of Insects, 79; Some Common Cut- 
ting Insects, 80; Some Common Sucking Insects, 
83; Insect Control, 84; Nature of Plant Diseases, 
85; Some Common Diseases and Their Treatment, 
85; Simimary, 88; Questions, 89. 

IX. The Farmer's Friends : Birds, Toads, Insects 90-102 
Birds and Their Food, 90; Useful Birds, 91; At- 
tracting the Birds, 96 ; Toads and Frogs, 99 ; Useful 
Insects, 99; Summary, 101; Questions and Prob- 
lems, 101. 

X. Propagation of Plants by Seeds . . 103-118 
Seeds, 103; Flowers, 103; The Parts of a Flower, 
103; PoUination, 106; Cross PoUination and 
Hybrids, 107; Propagation of Plants, 108; Quality 
of Seeds, 109; Age of Seeds, 109; Maturity of 
Seeds, 110: Selecting Seeds, 110; Testing Seeds, 
115; Conditions Affecting Germination, 116; Sum- 
mary, 117; Questions and Problems, 118. 

XL Propagation by Cuttings and Other 

Means 119-126 

Other Methods of Propagation, 119; Growth from 
Buds, 119; Cuttings, 120; Layering, 121; Grafting, 
121; The Necessity for Grafting, 124; Budding, 
125; Summary, 126; Questions, 126. 

XII. The Farm Garden 127-132 

The Importance of the Farm Garden, 127; Position 
and Soil for the Garden, 127; The Care of the 
Garden, 128; Desirable Plants for the Garden, 128; 
Summary, 131. 

XIII. Farm Crops 133-149 

Hay and Grass Crop, 133; Alfalfa, 134; Clovers, 
135; Corn, 135; Wheat and Other Grains, 137; 
Field Peas, 141; Potatoes, 141; Root Crops, 142; 
Cotton, 143; Sugar Cane, 145: Rice, 146; Tobacco, 
146; Summary, 149; Questions and Problems, 149. 



X CONTENTS 

CHAPTKB PAGES 

XIV. The Ouchakd 150-158 

Applos, 150; Pears, 152; Peaches, 153; Cherries 
and drapes, 154; Marketing Fruit, 154; Transplant- 
ing and Priming, 154; Summary, 158; Questions 
and Problems, 158. 

XV. Cattle 159-109 

The Usefulness of the Cow, 159; The Dairy Cow, 
159; Beef Breeds, 164; Advantages in Raising 
Cattle, 16G; The Importance of Good Cattle, 167; 
How to Improve the Herd, 167; Summary, 168; 
Questions and Problems, 168 

XVI. Milk ano Its Products .... 170-lSO 
. The Composition of Milk, 170; The Food Value of 
Milk, 172; The Souring of Milk, 172; The Milk 
Tester, 174; The Separator, 174; Cream, 176; 
Skimmed Milk, 177; Butter, 177; Cheese, 178; 
Summary, 179; Questions and Problems, ISO. 

XVII. The House lSl-100 

Antecedents and Types, 181 ; Desirable Character- 
istics, 181; Speed Horses, 183; Draft Horses, 185; 
Coach Horses, 187; Ponies, 187; Use and Care of 
Horses, 188; The Intelligence of Horses, 189; 
Summary, 190; Questions, 190. 

XVIII. Sheep and Swine 191-201 

Advantages of Sheep Raising, 191; lireeds of 
Sheep, 191; Advantages of Raising Swine, 194; 
Breeds of Swine, 195; Where and How to Raise 
Swine, 198; Summary, 199; Problems, 200. 

XIX. Poultry and Bees 202-2 1:{ 

Benefits of Poultry Raising, 202; Breeds of 
Chickens, 204; Ducks, C.eese, and Turkeys, 207; 
Raising and Care of Poultry, 207; Summary, 212; 
Questions and I'r(il)l('ms, 212. 

XX. Pkincii'les of Feedinc and Care of Animals 214-225 
Importance of (\nimal Food, 214; Classes of Feeds, 
216; Balanced Rations and the Nutritive Ratio, 



CONTENTS xi 

CHAPTER PAGES 

217; Ivinds of Feeding Stuffs, 220; Profit and 
Loss in Feeding, 222; Care of Animals, 223; Sum- 
mary, 225; Questions, 225. 

XXI. Good Roads. — Forestry. — Home and School 

Grounds 226-241 

The Farmer's Interest in Good Roads, 226; How 
to Make and Keep a Road Good, 226; The Purpose 
of Forestry, 229; Some Advantages of Forests, 230; 
What Other Nations are Doing in Forestry, 231; 
What Our Government is Doing, 232; How a 
Forest May be Perpetuated, 233; Home and School 
Grounds, 234; Trees and Shrubs, 234; Vines, 236; 
Flower Garden, 237; Hardy Perennials for the 
Farmer's Flower Garden, 239; Hardy Flowering 
Shrubs Best Adapted to the Farmer's Garden and 
Lawn, 239; Conclusion, 240; Summary, 240. 

APPENDIX 

Insecticides and Fungicides 243-246 

Bordeaux Mixture for Bhghts, 243; How to Treat 
Seed Oats to Prevent Smut, 244; How to Treat 
Scabby Seed Potatoes, 245; Kerosene Emulsion, 
245: Paris Green, 245. 

Tables 246-259 

Table I. — Soil Constituents Contained in Average 
Crops per Acre, 246; Table II. — Fertility Removed 
by Different Crops, 246; Table III. — Space and 
Quantities of Seed Required, 247; Quantities of 
Seed Required to the Acre, 247; Table IV.— 
Amount of Nutrients for a Day's Feeding, 248; 
Table V. — Dry Matter and Digestible Food In- 
gredients in 100 Pounds of Feeding Stuffs, 250; 
Fuel Value, 252; Table VI.— Rations Actually 
Fed to Horses and Digestible Nutrients and 
Energy in Rations, 253; Table VII.— Poimds of 
Total Dry Matter and Digestible Ingredients 
(Protein and Carbohytlrates, Including Fats X 
2.25) in Varying Weights of Fodders and Feeds, 254. 

References 259-261 



AN INTRODUCTION TO ACxRICULTURE 



CHAPTER I 
THE NATURE OF PLANTS 

I. The Science of Agriculture. — Agriculture or farm- 
ing consists primarily in raising plants and animals. The 
farmer aiming to have a profitable business must under- 
stand many things about the plants and animals he 
raises, for without a knowledge of their nature, their 
habits, and their needs he may labor year after year 
making only a halfway success of his work. It is easy 
to waste the good things that Nature has provided for 
the farmer. It is easy also to increase greatly the or- 
dinary production from the land — if one only knows how. 

How to get the best results in agriculture is a ques- 
tion that men are studying all the time. Agriculture is 
a science — one of the most useful of all the sciences. 
Wherever agricultural science improves farming it bene- 
fits mankind. Human beings everywhere are depend- 
ent on farming for food. This food in great variety 
comes from plants and from animals. Animals them- 
selves are dependent on plant growths for food. So we 
see that the growing of plants by farmers is one of the 
fundamental occupations of human kind. 

The farmer, first of all, should be interested in study- 
ing the fundamental facts of his science. He must 

1 



2 AN INTKODUCTIOX TO AGKICULTUKE 



understand how plants grow and what kinds of soil are 
best suited to the growth of the various plants. He 
must have a scientific knowledge of the diseases and the 
enemies of plants and how to overcome them. He will 
wish to know also many facts about cattle, poultry, 
sheep, and other farm animals. Such fundamental facts 
we are to study in this Ixjok. 

2. The Parts of a Plant. — In speaking of plants now 
we are thinkmg of all kinds of things growing out of the 
earth that provide food — trees, grains, grasses, vines, 
roots, and all the others. Most plants have roots, 

stems, leaves, flowers, and 
fruits or seeds. Some of the 
l()W(>r plants, which are used 
for food, such as mushrooms, 
do not have all of these parts. 
Some are dependent on other 
plants for their support and 
for their nourishment. These 
parts or organs are concerned 
with the two functions of 
i:)lants — growth and rej:)ro- 
duction. The growth organs 
ar^ the roots, stem, and 
leaves; the reproductive or- 
gans are the flowers, fruits, 
and seeds. 

Roots. — The roots reach 
out through the soil, hold- 

Typical Plant (Columbine). - ^^le plant in place and 
bhowing a, flower; b, leaf; c, " ' ' 

stem; d, roots. gathering food for it. They 




THE NATURE OF PLANTS 



arise from the stem, and branch or divide into smaller 
roots, until they become fine, delicate rootlets. Except 
at their tips, the tiny rootlets are covered with still finer 
root hairs. These root hairs take in food for the plant. 
They may increase the absorptive or feeding surface of 
the root seven to seventy-five times. 

Stems and Leaves. — The stem is the supporting organ, 
the framework on which the leaves and flowers are 
borne. It may be very short and thick as the "crown" 
of turnips and beets; it may be very slender and light as 
in the grains and grasses; or it may be large and strong 




Gooseberry. Showing a, flower; 6, fruit; c, seeds. 

as in the trunks of trees. The food absorbed by the 
root hairs passes through the larger roots and the stem 
to all parts of the plant. On the stem and generally in 
the axil of a leaf, buds are borne which produce branches 
bearing either leaves or flowers. The leaves help gather 
food by absorbing gases from the air. And it is in the 
leaves that the food elements gathered by the roots and 
leaves are made ready for the use of the plant. 



4 AN TNTKODTTTTON TO AGRICULTURE 

Place the stem of a plant (balsam) in water colored with 
red ink and watch the passajje of the water up the stem and 
into the leaves. 

Flowers, Fruits, and Seeds. — The flowers on a plant 
produce the fruit and seeds. The seed, as you know, 
contains the young plant. The parent plant stores food 
in the seed, and this food the young j)lant uses in send- 
ing out its first shoots and getting 
ready to glean its own living. 



/"^^/"^ a 



W 




Lima Bean, a, cotyledons opened to show hj-pocotyl and plumule; 
b to e, successive stages in germination showing development of 
hypocotyl, roots, cotyledons, stem, and plumule. 



3. How a Plant Grows. — You may have seen how a 
plant begins to grow from the seed. It sends a shoot 
upward toward the light and another shoot downward 
as a root. The u]iward shoot becomes the stem. It 
branches out and has leaves, and so makes the full- 
grown plant which we see. The root, as it grows, also 
divides into many branches which run through the 
ground. 



THE NATURE OF PLANTS 5 

If you put some beans or other large seeds in water 
or damp sand, you can see how they sprout. On the 
outside will be found two coatings. Beneath these are 
two leaves, thick and yellow. They contain the nour- 
ishment on which the young plant begins its life. These 
leaves are called cotyledons. 

Place some large seeds, such as beans or peas, in water over 
night. Then take out some of them and study their structure. 
Place the others in damp sawdust or sand. Continue for sev- 
eral days the study of the little plants. 

Lay the first leaves apart and you will find between 
them two tiny leaves supported by a minute stem. 
These inner leaves are called the 'phmiule and the stem 
is called the hypocotyl. The hypocotyl grows and lifts 
the leaves above the ground. From the hypocotyl also 
the first root starts in its dowiiward growth. In some 
plants the plumule develops into the first real leaves; in 
others the cotyledons become the first leaves above 
ground. Corn and certain other seeds have only one 
cotyledon. 

4. How the Plant Gets Its Food. — The plant starts its 
life by feeding on the food stored in the seed. But as 
soon as its leaves have reached the sunlight and its roots 
begin to spread out through the soil, the plant must find 
and make its own food. Air, water, and mineral salts 
in the soil are the plant's food materials. 

Sprout grains of corn, wheat, barley, etc., between two 

pieces of damp cloth inclosed between two plates. Place two 

or three matches with the seeds to prevent mold, and set the 

plates in a warm place. In a few days study the seedlings, ex- 

2 



6 AN INTRODUCTION TO AGRICULTUKE 



amining the parts. Notice the hairs on the roots. Compare tlie 
different kinds of plants. 

Tho plant can take in nothing in solid form. All its 
food from tho soil comes to it dissolved in water, which 
can pass readily from the soil through the root hairs 
into the tiny rootlets. The soil water contains carl)onic 
acid derived principally from decaying organic matter 
which helps it to dissolve the mineral compounds in the 
soil. The water passing into the root hairs takes with 

it the mineral salts 
that are necessary to 
the plant's health and 
growth. These min- 
eral salts are really 
several substances 
mixed together, but 
all are called salts. 
While the salts are 
dissolved in water, 
we cannot see them. 
Their tiny invisible 
particles are mixed with the particles of water in what 
is known as a solution. If we boil some water until it 
has all evaporated, we shall generally find in the bottom 
of the kettle a white substance that looks like common 
salt. This is the mineral salt which was in the water 
but which did not evaporate with it. When we burn 
plants the mineral parts are left in the foi-m of ashes. 

The jjlant feeds from the air as well as from the 
water in the soil. Its leaves absorb gases from the air, 
and these gases, especially the carbon dioxide, are used 




Cross Section of a Root Showing the 
Root Hairs, a, bark cells; b, duct for 
passage of water and air. 



THE NATUKE OF PLANTS 



in preparing the food for the plant. In some way that 

we do not wholly understand, a plant has the power to 

combine the water, the mineral 

substances from the soil, and 

the gases from the air so as to 

make food for itself. This can 

take place only in sunlight. In 

this process the leaves return to 

the air through the stomata a 

gas which we call oxygen and 

more or less water. 

5. Conditions of Growth. — In 
order to grow well, the plant 
must have the proper concUtions 
of heat, water, air, light, and 
food. Uhtil the weather is warm 
most plants do not even sprout. 
Light is very essential to the life 
of plants; in the dark they stop 
growing or grow only a little 
and weakly. A certain amount 
of water must be in the soil 

within reach of the plant, or it will wither and die. 
There must be a free circulation of air, and the proper 
amount and kinds of plant food must be in the soil. 

1. In two flowerpots plant some grains of wheat or oats, 
after soaking in warm water for several hours. When the seeds 
have germinated, i)lace one flowerj)ot where a strong light will 
reach it from all sides and the other in a window where the 
light comes from only one side. Watch the results. 

2. After a lawn has been mowed, cover a small section of it 
with a box, bottom upward. The box may be a foot or more 




Under Side OF Leaf. Show- 
ing A, mouths or sto- 
mata for passage of air; 
B, a cross section show- 
ing a, air space ; s, stoma; 
<7, guard cell which opens 
and closes the stoma. 



8 AN INTRODUCTION TO AOHICULTURE 

square. After a few days the grass beneath will have lost its 
green color and (•(viseil to frrow. Why? 

3. In two wide-niouthcd bottles ])laee some damp sawdust. 
After soaking in water a handful of grains of wheat or oats 
place half in each bottle. Cork one bottle very tightly, covering 
it with vaseline, and leave the other open. Watch the results. 




Tobacco Plants, a, growTi in tlic lifjlil; b, {irown for iwn weeks in 
darkness. After Errira and Laurent. 

6. Plant Food Must Be Usable. — The })lant food in 
the soil must be in such a condition that the plant can 
use it. Many stones in the field may be full of jjlant 
food, but the plant cannot use it in this form. If a 
stone is broken almost to a powder, even then the ele- 
ments the plant needs may be coml>ined with something 
else so that the plant cannot get its food. This food 



THE NATURE OF PLANTS 9 

must be changed and dissolved in water beforq the plant 
can use it. It is as if a hungry boy stood outside a 
locked pantry door. The food is there, but it can do 
him no good until the door is unlocked. So we say the 
plant food is locked up. 

One thing that helps unlock this food is air in the 
soil. Among the loose particles of soil there is air as 
well as water, and the farmer must take care that the air 
is not shut out. Much of the farmer's work consists in 
releasing this food so that the plant can get it. How it 
is done we shall learn later. 

SUMMARY 

The plant consists of root, stem, leaves, flowers, and fruits, 
or seeds. 

The food of the plant consists of air, water, and mineral 
salts. — Food material in the soil is dissolved in water and ab- 
sorbed by the root hairs of the plant. — Gases from the air are 
absorbed by the leaves of the plant. 

The conditions of jilant growth are proper heat, moisture, 
air, light, and food. 

Much of the farmer's work consists in making plant food 
usable. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Why is agriculture one of the most useful of all the 
sciences? 

2. Name the parts of a plant. Tell tlie uses of each. 

3. Why are root hairs so important? 

4. WTiat are the right conditions for germination and 
growth? 

5. Name and give the use of each part of a seed. 

6. In what form is plant food usually found in the soil? 

7. Why cannot the jdant use stones for food? 



CHAPTER II 



THE SOIL 



7. The Composition of Soil. — By soil we mean that 
part of the earth's crust in which ])lants grow. It is the 
loose decomposed layer of mineral matter resulting from 

rock decay which fur- 
nishes food and foot- 
hold for plant and an- 
imal life. Soil may be 
from a few inches to 
several feet in depth. 
The earthy material 
beneath the soil is 
called the suhsoil. It 
is generally harder and 
colder than the sur- 
face layer of soil and 
it is generally not suit- 
able for i)lant growth. 
Soil is usually a mixture of decayed rocks, plants, and 
animal matter. We say that a rock is "decayed" when 
it crumbles up. You may have seen in a gi-avel bed 
stones whose outer surface can be crumliled with the 
hand. The crumbling of rocks helps to make soil. The 

10 




Soil Formed from Rock Underneath. 
a, soil with grass growing in it; b, 
subsoil, coarser and more rocky; c, 
coarse, loose rock; d, rock in lay- 
ers, cracked. d changes to c, c 
changes to b, and b to a. 



THE SOIL 11 

pieces that break off are sometimes small and sometimes 
large. In many soils there is a gradual grading from the 
fine soil on top, down through coarser and coarser parts, 
until rock is reached. 

Plants on the surface of the ground wither and die, 
and gradually become a part of the soil. In some places 
in the woods the fallen leaves have lain undisturbed for 
centuries. They have decayed and made a dark- 
colored substance in the soil. The roots of plants that 
have died, rot or decay and add other vegetable sub- 
stances to the soil. These decayed parts of plants give 
to the soil some material that is very valuable for the 
growth of plants and improve it in other ways by making 
it light so that light and water will circulate through it 
readily, causing it to warm up earlier in the spring. 
Animal matter also enters into the soil and helps to make 
fertile soil. The decaying plant and animal matter in 
the soil is called humus. 

8. Kinds of Soil. — Most soils are made up chiefly of 
four different grades of materials — sand, silt, clay, and 
humus. Sand is a coarse-grained material, silt is finer, 
and clay finer still. Humus has been described above. 
If the soil consists of these four materials in fairly equal 
proportions, it is called loam. If there is more of one 
material, the soil is given a corresponding name, as 
sandy loam, clay loam, etc. If there is much sand, the 
soil may be called light sandy, or if there is much clay, 
the soil may be called heavy clay. The terms heavy and 
light do not refer to the actual weight of the soil, but to 
the difficulty in working it because of its stickiness or 
lack of it. The physical nature of any soil is largely de- 



12 AN INTRODUCTION TO AGRICULTURE 

tcrminod by the kind of rock from which it is derived. 
Some of the more common of these rocks are described 
below. 

Examine the soil in the garden and field and determine 
whether it is sandy, clayey, or loamj'. Examine it where a bank 
has been cut through and notice the variations as we go down 
from the surface. 

Granile, the rock commonly used for monuments and 
buildings, consists mainly of three minerals mixed to- 
gether — quartz, feldspar, and mica. AVhen a granite 
rock decays, the quartz, being hard, remains as sand. 
The feldspar and the mica are partly dissolved and 
break up into fine particles, which make clmj. 

Sandstone is made of grains of sand cemented to- 
gether. The sand may be coarse or fine, white or 
colored. 

Limestone is a softer stone of many grades and all 
colors from black to white. It is made of the dust of 
ground-up shells of clams, oysters, and other sea crea- 
tures. The shells, moved back and forth over stones or 
other shells by the waves, are ground to a fine dust. 
This dust is worketl together into a hard mass and forms 
rock. Clay and sand washed down by the rivers mingle 
with the shell dust, and thus the limestone sometimes 
contains clay and sand also. When limestone decays, 
much of it is dissolved and carried away, leaving the 
clay to settle and form a clay soil. Sometimes lime- 
stone may contain so much sand that its decay makes 
a sandy soil. 

If possible, obtain sj)ecimens of granite, sandstone, and 
limestone. With a hammer break up a piece of each into frag- 



THE SOIL 13 

ments as small as peas. Take three bottles half full of water 
and put into them pieces of the broken stones, free from dust 
or dirt. Put only one kind of stone in each bottle, and have 
the pieces about an inch deep on the bottom. Cork the bottles 
carefully and shake them several times a day for a week. Ob- 
serve in which bottle there is the greatest accumulation of soil. 

9. Formation of Soil — Rock Weathering. — The decay 
of rocks and the making of soil take place chiefly bj'^ a 
process called weathering. Let us see how weathering 
acts on the rocks. 

Granite, as we have learned, consists of three min- 
erals cemented together. If one of the minerals is dis- 
solved, the rock will fall to pieces. You may have seen 
plaster break and fall from the ceiling of a room when 
water has leaked through from above. The plaster is 
made of lime and sand, and when the water dissolves 
the lime, the plaster can no longer hold together. In a 
similar way, water working on a granite rock may dis- 
solve a little of the feldspar or mica, and then the granite 
crumbles. 

Limestone also crumbles when water dissolves some 
of the cement that holds it together. If the water 
working on limestone contains a little acid, the stone 
decays faster. Water in the ground is nearly always 
slightly acid. 

Water sometimes works its way into a rock and 
freezes there. Now we know that water in freezing ex- 
pands. If a bottle full of water freezes, the bottle is 
likely to be broken because of the expansion of the water. 
In like manner, water freezing in a rock tends to split 
off a layer of rock. 



14 AN INTKODUCTION TO ACKICULTURE 

Sunlight on a rock tends to flake off the outside sur- 
face. The heat seems to make the rock expand and 
crack, just as the top of a stove may crack from the ex- 




Weatherkd Limestone. 
Wasting is by solution. Water finds readiest access along joints. 

pansion caused by heat. When the weather turns colder 
at night or in the winter, the rock contracts and this helps 
to make it flake off. The various constituents of which 
a rock is composed expand differently under the effect 
of heat, and the many different strains which r(>sult 
break the rock apart. Thus the changes in temperature 
are constantly working toward the loosening of par- 



THE SOIL 



15 



tides of rock. In regions where the soil is not protected 
by vegetation, the wind is an important factor in break- 
ing down rocks. Particles of sand caught up and 
driven against rock surfaces exert a surprising grinding 
power. Cliffs and bowlders are undermined in this way. 




Rocks Wedged Apart dy Orowixg Tree. 
Wt'.st o ni M assacl iiisct t s . 



Sand driven along by a currcMit of water acts in the same 



way. 



Plants also help to decay rocks. There is a class of 



16 AX INTRODUCTION TO A(}KICULTUKE 

plants, called mosses and licliens, that grow on rocks and 
that dissolve the rock material by acids which they 
contain. Wherever plant roots come in contact with 
rock, they act on the rock particles and help to crumble 
the rock. If they get into the rock crevices and grow 
they may fill the crevices and force the I'ock apart. 
The acid developed in the formation of humus in the 
soil is another agent in the breaking down of rock. 

We see, therefore, that the chief agents that break 
do\\Ti rocks are water, acid, heat, and cold, ice and frost, 
winds, certain plants that gi'ow on rocks, plant roots, and 
humus. V^'c call these the agents of weathering.' 

Search a gravel bank for specimens of weathered stones. 

If a running brook is near, notice the coarse stones in the 
middle of the brook and the finer ones nearer the edge. At the 
very edge, or where the water runs slowly, there may be only 
mud. After a rain notice the sorting ])ower of water as shown 
in the road or street. 

10. Glacial Action in Soil Formation. — Some of the 
richest soils in America were formed by the action of 
glaciers many centuries ago. All over the northern part 
of our country there once passed a glacier several hun- 
dred feet thick. This glacier tore up rocks and ground 
them to bits, and carried and distributed the i^ieces over 
a wide area. Thus a great variety of rock materials was 
mixed together to form the soil. 

Such soils are likely to be more fertile than those 
formed from one kind of rock or from the rocks in one 
place. They do not wear out so quickly, that is, their 
material needed for })lant growth is not so soon ex- 
hausted. 



THE SOIL 17 

II. Uses of the Soil to the Plant. — We are interested 
in this study of the composition of soils because it is 
largely from the soil that plants get their sustenance. 
By understanding how the soil is made, we learn how to 
get it into the right condition for the growth of plants. 



A Mountain Spuk ,- i hiiii and Rounded by a Glacier. 
(jlacier Bay, Alaska. 

The soil provides the support in which plants are 
anchored ; trees need a great mass of soil to hold them in 
place. The soil furnishes the water and much of the 
nourishment that plants need. The soil also helps to 
give the plant the right amount of heat. It acts as an 
absorber and storehouse of heat. If the plant's roots 



18 AN INTliODUCTlON TO A( JKICIJLTIJKE 

were exposed to the sun and the wind, they would often 
suffer from too much lioat, and as often be too cold. 
The soil, like a blanket, both keeps heat hi and keeps 
it out. 

12, Good Farm Soil. — In order that the soil may do 
its imi)ortant work pro])erly, it must be in the jiroper 
condition. This means that it should not be lum])y or 
too hard or too loose. It must be made u]) of the ri*2;lit 
proportion of sand, clay, and humus. It should not be 
wet enough to cake or too dry to supply the plants with 
the needed moisture. It must be rich; that is, it must 
have plenty of plant food in the condition in which 
plants can use it. Soil that is neither too hard nor too 
loose- is said to be mellow. A fertile soil has all of these 
conditions just right for the production of good crops. 



SUMMARY 

All soil is made from the decay of rocks, plants, and animals. 
— The principal soil-forming rocks are granite, sandstone, and 
limestone. — The principal kinds of soil are sand}^ soil, clayey 
soil, light sandy and heavy clay soils. — Mixtures of sand, silt, 
clay, and humus are called loams. 

The chief process of soil making is called weathering.^The 
principal agents of weathering arc water, acitl, wind, heat and 
cold, frost and ice, and growing plants. — Anotlier imjiortant 
agent in the formation of soil is the action of glaciers in grinding 
down rocks. 

The soil is necessary to support the plant and to furnish 
nourishment and water supply. It affords a place where plant 
food may change its form, and where the heat of the sun may 
be absorbed and stored. — In order to do this work properly the 
soil must be in the right condition. 



THE SOIL 19 



QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 

1. Are there gravel banks with many kinds of stones near 
where you live? If so, they are probably glacial drift. 

2. How can you tell granite from sandstone? Granite from 
limestone? Sandstone from limestone? 

3. Which is darker colored, humus or sand? 

4. Why is the decay of rocks called weathering? 

5. Geologists tell us that when limestone weathers, ninety- 
six per cent may be dissolved and carried away. How many 
cubic feet of limestone would make twelve cubic feet of soil? 

6. How many square feet are there in an acre? If a farmer 
plows eight inches deej), how many cubic feet does he move in 
plowing an acre? 

7. What is the chief operation that you have seen farmers 
perform to get soil into right condition for plant growth? How 
do you think this helps? 

8. AVhy do farmers call a sandy soil lightl 

9. Would a rock crumble more where the climate is even or 
where it is changeable? 

ID. Can you see any reasons why the surface soil is better 
than the subsoil? Give them. 



CHAPTER III 

WATER IN THE SOIL 

13. The Importance of Water to Plants. — Without 
plenty of water in the soil, [plants cannot thi-ive. You 
already know why this is so. Water itself is a plant 
food, antl in the water is dissolved all the other food 
that a plant takes from the soil. The water must be in 
contact with tlie grains of soil so as to get from them 
the mineral salts needed to feed the plant, 

14. The Movement of Water in the Soil. — Part of the 
water that falls tUuing a rain sinks into the soil. Some 
of it stays near the surface antl some goes deep into the 
subsoil. You kn(jw how the water sometimes runs 
through the soil in a flower])ot and comes out of the 
hole in the bottom. If the soil is dry, and you give the 
plant only a little water, none of the water nms out, 
but all of it is held among the soil grains, which now look 
moist instead of dry. That which sticks to the ])articles 
of soil is called film water. That which rims tlu-ough the 
soil is called jree water. 

Evaporation. — If the flowerpot stands in the sun 
after it has been watered and the free water has run off, 
the soil on top will dry out. The water in it has ])assed 
off into the air. It has turned to vai)or, or, as we say, 
has evaporated. 

20 



WATER IN THE SOIL 



21 



Porosity. — As the soil on top dries, the water in the 
lower part of the flowerpot gradually moves upward. 
The film water fills the tiny spaces between the grains 
of soil. When these spaces in the upper layer of soil 
are emptied by the passing of the water into the air, 
more water creeps up from below to fill them. You 
know how a blotter 
takes up ink and how 
a sponge absorl)s wa- 
ter. Blotter, sponge, 
and soil are porous 
objects. Between the 
particles of which they 
are made are tiny 
spaces or pores. Into 
these pores the liquid 
moves. 

Capillarity. — The water, we have said, rises through 
the soil. In a lamy) wick the oil moves upward from the 
base of the lamp to the surface where the flame is. 
Capillarity, 1 or capillary attraction, is the name given 
to the force which causes any liquid to rise through a 
porous substance. 

Take two glasses ; fill one with water, and place them side by 
side. Place one end of a lamp wick in the glass containing the 
water, and let the other end hang over into the empty glass. 
Watch the results. 




Experiment Showing Capillarity. 



' Capillary means hairlike. The capillary action of water is best 
shown in "hairlike" tubes, that is, small glass tubes open at both 
ends. If such tubes are placed upright in a pan of water, the 
water will rise in them. 
3 



22 AN IXTTJODTTTTOX TO AdRTPULTURE 

15. Amount of Water Used by Different Plants. — 
The amount of water which i)lants contain, e\'en when 
ap)3arently dry, varies from six to eighty-five per cent 
of their total weight. The quantity of water in some 
plants, or i)arts of plants, is shown Ijy the following table: 

drains 10 to 15 per cent 

Dry beans 12.4 " 

Green-apple twigs 50 " 

Potatoes 80 

(Ireen grass. . . 85 " 

But the ])lant actually needs mucli more water than 
is shown by such a table. To keep healthy, a jilant 
must constantly have a great quantity of water passing 
thi-ough its stems or branches to the leaves. The water 
evaporates from tlie leaves into the air. l']xj)eriments 
have shown that, for each pound of dry grain to be 
harvested, three hundred to five hundred pounds of 
water should pass through the plants producing the 
grain. 

16. Effect of Too Little Water in the Soil.— A plant 
will (juickly starve if it lias not enough water. A\'ater 
itself is the most important plant food, and it is the 
medium for the transmission of ])lant food, for the ]ilant 
gets its mineral food in the water which its roots absorb. 

Herbs and other ])lants that have little woody tissue 
in th(Mr stems wilt and droop if they have not sufficient 
water. The water is needed to fill out the stems and 
keep the plants stiff and upright, as well as to bring 
food from the soil. 

17. Effect of Too Much Water. — Plants may suffer 
from too much wat(M- in the soil as well as from too little. 



WATER IN THE SOIL 23 

Air is needed in the soil in order that the plant may get 
its proper food (Sec. 5). If the soil is very wet, so that 
water fills all the spaces among the grains of soil, there 
will be no room for the air. You may understand better 
how the soil holds both air and water if you think of a 
w^et sponge. The substance of the sponge holds water, 
and all through the sponge are tiny open spaces, or pores, 
filled with air. 

Too much water ma}^ injure the plant in another way. 
The roots of most plants will not go down into water. 
If they find the ground too wet, they will spread out 
near the surface instead of going deeper. Later, when 
the weather becomes hot, the roots, being near the sur- 
face, will dry up. Too much water at first results in too 
little available water later. 

Still another thing we must remember about water- 
soaked soil. Ground that is very wet is cold. More 
heat is required to w^arm w^ater than to warm soil. Then, 
too, from wet ground water is all the time evaporating. 
As it passes off into the air, the w'ater takes with it some 
of the warmth in the ground. This warmth is needed 
for the growth of plants, and especially of seeds. Rapid 
evaporation from wet soil wastes it. When the sun is 
warming the land in sirring, wet soil is not made ready 
for seed planting so soon as soil with only a moderate 
amount of moisture. A wet soil is likely to be over- 
acid or sour, and not well suited for crop growth. 

Thus w^e see that for many reasons it is important 
that the soil for most plants should not be water-soaked. 
The soil is a storehouse for water. One of the chief 
l^roblems of the farmer is how to regulate the su})- 



24 AN INTKODrCTIOX TO ACJRICULTURE 



ply and give his crops neither too Httle nor too much 
water. 

For this and some other experiments a small spring balance 
weighing by ounces up to four pounds is desirable. Provide five 
l^int bottles with the bottoms cut off as follows: 

To cut off the bottoms of the bottles, saturate a string with 
kerosene or alcohol; let it drain and then wind it two or three 
times around the bottle near the bottom. Tie the string tightly 
and cut off the ends. Light the kerosene and let it burn, hold- 
ing the ])ottle bottom u])ward. As soon as the kerosene is 
nearly or quite done burning, dip the bottom of the bottle into 
water, if the bottom has not already cracked off. Cork the bot- 
tles with corks having notches cut in the sides so as to allow 
water to enter wlien the necks are immersed in water. Tie a 
string around the neck of each inverted bottle and bring the 

string up near the bottom of the 
bottle so as to make a noose 
around the bottle. Make a loop 
in the end of the string into which 
the hook of the balance may be 
placed. Weigh each bottle, and 
record the weight. Place in each 
bottle a pound (or other known 
weight) of some kind of soil, as, 
for examjile, gravel in one, sand 
in another, ])oor soil in the third, 
loam in the fourth, and k>af mold 
in the fifth. Stand the bottles 
bottom up in old tin cans, each 
can containing the same amount 
of water. Cover the oi)en ends of 
the bottles with a piece of rubljcr 
sheeting to prevent evaporation. 
After two or three days weigh each bottle to see which soil has 
gained the largest amount of water. 

Empty the remaining water from tlie cans, rei)lace the bot- 




ExrERiMENT Showing Absorp- 
tion OF Water by Soils. 



WATER IN THE SOIL 25 

ties, and uncover the ends to allow the water to evaporate from 
the soil. Note which kind of soil loses water rapidly. 

1 8. How the Soil May Be Made to Hold More Moisture. 
— Let us see what the farmer can do to make the soil 
hold more moisture. You ^^ill remember that water in 
the soil finds its place in the minute spaces between the 
particles of soil (Sec. 6) ; and j'ou have learned that by 
capillary attraction the water creeps up along the sur- 
faces of these particles of soil (Sec. 14), By breaking 
up the soil into finer pieces the farmer may increase the 
total surface and also the total space for the water to fill. 

This will be clear if you think of cutting a cube of 
cheese into pieces. If the cube is one inch square, its 
surface contains six square inches. By three cuts with 
a knife the inch cuIdc can 
be made into eight half- 
inch cubes. The surface 
of these eight cubes to- 
gether is twice that of the 
inch cube. The inch cube 

... Experiment Showing Increase op 

offered no space mto which surface by subdivision. 
a liquid could be poured, 

but the eight smaller cubes thrown together offer many 
little cracks and crevices. This illustrates why the 
farmer should make his soil fine by tilling, the meth- 
ods of which we shall study in the next chajrter. 

The soil is made more porous and able to hold more 
moisture, without becoming cold or soggy, by adding 
humus (Sec. 7) to it. Barnyard manure or plowed- 
under crops, of which we shall learn in Sections 35 and 




26 AN IXTnODTTTION TO AGRICULTURE 

36, increase the humus in the soil. Humus can hold 
more than seven times as much water as the same 
amount of sand (reckoned by weight) can hold. A little 
humus mixed with soil increases the ahility of the soil 
to hold water to a degree equal to nearly twice the 
weight of the humus. 

Get three examj^les of garden soil, one from a depth of six 
inches, one from a depth of twelve inches, and one from a 
depth of eighteen inches. Weigh as accurately as possible 
eight ounces of each and thoroughl}^ dry each sample in a warm 
place. Weigh each dried sample. Divide the loss in weiglit by 
the original weight, to find the jjercentage of water that each 
contained. 

19. The Benefits of Underdrainage. — The best way 
to regulate the amount of moisture in the soil is by 
drainage. Farmers have various methods of draining 
land, that is, of carrying off the superfluous water that 
falls or seeps into the ground. From what you have 
just read (Sec. 17) about the effect of too much water in 
the soil, you will understand some of the benefits of 
drainage. If the water is carried ofT, there is more 
room for jiir in the soil. The roots will grow deeper. 
The soil will be warmer. Excess soluble substances in 
the soil, which may be injurious to crop growth, will be 
removed and the soil will really provide more available 
moisture during the season. 

The fact that in drained land the roots can go deeper 
is beneficial in several ways. These roots will feed in 
the deeper soil and will take less water from the surface. 
So long as the water is not tlrawn from the surface layer 
of soil, the moisture below will not rise by the force of 



WATER IN THE SOIL 27 

capillarity (Sec. 14). It will be stored up until needed. 
Later in the season when a dry time comes, this store of 
water will rise toward the surface as the moisture there 
evaporates. Thus you see that drainage improves the 
condition of the soil in such a way as to increase its 
capacity to hold available water without the evils that 
attend the presence of superfluous water. 

Deep-growing roots also open up places for the air 
to penetrate farther into the soil. As underground 
water is drained off, clay in the soil shrinks and cracks, 
and these cracks offer another means by which air gets 
into the soil. It is important to provide drainage for 
a clayey soil; for a sandy soil this generally is not 
necessary. 

When land is drained, the water from rains can sink 
into the ground. Otherwise the rains may wash away 
the surface soil and injure plants. 

20. Methods of Drainage. — The best method of 
underdrainage is by trenches, with hollow tiles at the 






-^mitini 





bottom. The trench is dug two and one half feet to 
four feet deep. The tiles are one foot long or more and 
two to eight inches in diameter. They arc placed end 



28 AN INTliUDrCTlUN TU A(JKICIJ.TU1IE 

to end, without cementing, on a gradual grade, and the 
trench is filled with earth. The water from the soil gets 
into the tiles through the small spaces where the ends 
join and flows through the i^ipc of hollow tiling. The 
rows of tiles arc placed through the field at distances 
apart varying from thirty to one hundred feet. Some- 
times stones arc used instead of tiles. They are laid in 
the ditch so as to form a channel for the water. 

Farmers sometimes drain their land by open ditch(>s, 
but it is hard to work a field cut up in this way. A\'hc>n 
such ditches must be had, it is best, if possible, to make 
them so broad and gently sloping as to permit their 
being kept in grass and r(>a(lily mowed with a machine. 
Sometimes the ditches are filled with stones or brush, 
and it is then more difficult to keep the weeds down. 
Such an arrangement is much less satisfactory than tile 
drains, which are less expensive to keep up, are more 
permanent, more effective, leave no obstructions on the 
surface, and waste no land. 

SUMMARY 

Water exists in the soil as free water and film water. — Water 
moves through the porous soil l)y the force of cajiinarity. — Dif- 
ferent crops use 300 to oOO pounds of water to produce one 
pound of dry matter. — The water serves the plant as food, to 
carry food, and to render the plant stiff and rigid. — Too little 
water robs the plant of its food and allows it to wither. — Too 
much water in the soil injures the ])lant by keejiinc; air out of 
the soil, by preventing the roots from penetrating the soil, and 
by making the soil cold. 

The moisture-holding capacity of the soil may be increased 
by tilling, by adding humus, and by drainage. — Underdrainage 



WATER IN THE SOIL 29 

allows the plant to root dcei)ly, opens up the soil for the ad- 
mission of air, deepens the feeding ground of the plant, 
increases the caj^acity of the soil to hold water, and lessens 
washing by rains. Draining by tiles is the best method of 
underdrainage. 

QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 

1. What kind of soil allows the free water to pass through 
most readily? 

2. Give illustrations of capillarity, or capillary attraction. 

3. Which would be better, to water a lawn or garden a little 
and do it often, or give it a thorough soaking once in a while? 
Why? 

4. Would you pick lettuce early in the morning or in the 
middle of the forenoon? Why? (See. 10.) 

5. Can every piece of land be drained? What conditions 
are necessary in order that it may be drained? 

6. It is said that wheat uses 453 pounds of water to produce 
one pound of dry matter. At 30 bushels to the acre (60 pounds 
per bushel), how many tons of water i)er acre would be required? 

7. One inch of water over an acre weighs nearly 100 tons. 
Can you find what is the weight of the annual rainfall in your 
vicinity? How many inches would be necessary for the number 
of tons found in Question 6? The wheat straw will weigh one 
and one half times as much as the grain. How much water will 
it require? 

8. Why will a crop on well-drained land have more tin)e to 
mature than on undrained land? 

9. If a cube an inch on each side is divided into cubes one 
eighth of an inch on each side, how many cubes will there be? 

10. How many times as much surface will the little cubes 
have? 



CHAPTER IV 

TILLING THE SOIL 

21. Tillage. — Tilling the soil is one of the means by 
which farmers iinpi'ovo their land. Plowing partly in- 
verts the soil and grinds the particles together. Culti- 
vation stirs and loosens the surface soil and thereby 
makes it finer. These operations change the texture of 
the soil, as we say. 

When an entire field is tilled, the operation is called 
general tillage. This is done usually to prepare the soil 
for the planting of seeds or to mix with the soil manure 
that has been spread over the surface. 

Sometimes after the plants have come up the soil is 
tilled between the rows of plants. This is called iiiier- 
tillage. 

In its larger sense the word cultivation means the 
same as tillage. More narrowly, it means the use of 
the cultivator to stir the surface soil. 

22. Objects of Tillage. — Briefly, the object of tillage 
is to put the soil in such a phj-sical condition that it 
makes an ideal home for plant roots. There are many 
reasons why plants need a loose, fine soil. If the soil is 
in lumps, the tiny roots cannot enter it easily, and it 
will neither support the plant nor give it food. Tillage 

30 




Plowing with a Four-horse Team on a Ranch in Oklahoma. 




Steam Plow and Seeder at Work on a Ranch in California. 

31 



32 AN INTRODUCTION TO AGRICULTURE 

gives depth of soil so that there is am])le living room, a 
large feeding area, an abundant storage for moisture, and 
available plant food. A lumpy soil and a hard crust 
covering the surface will keep out the air, which is neces- 
sary to soil activities. We learned in the last chapter 
(Sec. 18) that a fine soil gives more room for water 
among the particles of earth. In a fine soil this moisture 
can circulate better and tillage is a gr(»at help to certain 
very important soil organisms that make plant food 
available, which we have not spoken about yet, 

23. Preparation of the Seed Bed.— Seeds especially 
require a good soil for their growth, and tillage helps to 
prepare the proper seed bed. In the spring the soil is 
turned over so that the sun may warm it and is har- 
rowed do\\ii into a fine smooth bed. The soil must be 
fine and loose, so that when the seed sprouts its delicate 
stems and rootlets may easily get through the soil and 
close to the soil particles. In some cases it is desirable 
to till the ground just before the young shoots come up, 
so as to break the crust for them. 

24. Regulation of Moisture. — Tillage helps to regulate 
the amount and movement of moisture in the soil. A\'hen 
a few inches of the surface soil have been loosened, the 
rain water will sink in instead of washing off the land 
and being wasted. 

This loose soil on toj) makes what is called a sur- 
face mulch. In loose earth the particles of soil are more 
separated, so that there, is more space between them. 
Water does not readily pass through dry, loose soil by 
capillarity, for, in the loose soil, the caj)illary pores are 
broken up. So this surface mulch prevents the ground 



TILLING THE SOIL 33 

from drying out by making it impossible for the deeper- 
lying moisture to reach the surface. 

When possible, the land should be tilled after each 
rain to keep the soil loose. By repeating this so that 
two or three inches of soil on top are always loose and 
dry, the farmer can keep most crops alive even in the 
driest weather. Tillage, then, accomplishes two im- 
portant things: it carries rain water to the roots, and it 
prevents moisture stored deep in the soil from coming 
to the surface and evaporating. 

25. Other Uses. — Soil is often tilled to cover barn- 
yard manure and green manures, that is, green crops 
intended to be mixed with the soil to form humus. 
These are all plowed under so that they may decay and 
enrich the soil. They provide valuable food for the 
plant and in many ways improve the physical condition 
of the soil. 

Still another use of tillage, and one that farmers 
count of much importance, is the destruction of weeds. 
The plow, or cultivator, uprooting them, hinders their 
growth. The best time to kill weeds is just as they 
come U}), and before they are large enough to do any 
damage. 

26. A Risk in Tilling. — In tilling between the rows 
of growing crops, great care must be used not to disturb 
the roots. Corn and some other plants send their roots 
out between the rows and near the surface of the ground. 
While tillage is very beneficial to the corn crop, which 
needs plenty of moisture, the farmer must watch that the 
cultivator does not go deep enough to break the fine 
roots. 



34 AN JXTKODllTION TO AdKirULTUUE 

27, Importance of Good Tillage. — It is evident that 
one of the most imiiortant things for the farmer to con- 
sider is the tillage of his soil. Even though there may 
be jilenty of jjlant food in the soil and plenty of water 
and sunshine, all these will not produce a good crop 
unless the texture of the soil is right. Tliis is obtained 
chiefly by good tillage. Moreover, a lack of the proper 
amount of plant food, water, and air may be largely 
remedied by tillage. 

1. Raise ]:)lants in two boxes of soil; let the soil in one box 
be undisturbed and keep the other thoroughly tilled. See 
whether one plant thrives better than the other. 

2. Raise a jilant in a porous floweq)ot and another in a tin 
can. Otherwise treat them just alike and note whether one 
thrives better than the other. 

In 1731 Jethro Tull, in England, discovered the value 
of tilling the soil. He learned that he could get better 
crops by thorough tillage. Knowing that the j^lants got 
more food in this way, he thought that plants took in 
fine particles of soil as food. He wrote a book to show 
the value of tilling the soil for this purpose, and though 
his reasons were wrong he did much good by showing 
farmers everywhere the value of tillage. 

28. Tillage Implements — The Plow. — The most im- 
portant tools used in tillage arc the plow, harrow, 
planker, roller, rake, and hoe. 

The plow is the most important tool. Its work lays 
the foundation for the use of the oth(>r tillage tools. It 
consists of a standard to which the other parts are at- 
tached, the beam, by which it is drawn; the share, which 
cuts the furrow slice at the bottom; the mold board, 




A Plo-\v. 



TILLING THE SOIL 35 

which turns and pulverizes the furrow sHce; the land- 
side, and the handles, by which the plow is held. Be- 
sides these chief parts 
are the clevis, by which 
the plow is attached 
to the doubletree, and 
the coulter, which is 
sometimes used to cut 
the furrow slice. A 
jointer is freciuently attached to the beam to cut and 
turn the sod when plowing sod land. 

The plow cuts the furrow in slices and turns it over. 
At the same time it breaks up the soil, or pulverizes it. 
This is accomplished by grinding the different layers of 
soil upon each other. You can see how this is done by 
bending up the corners of a j^amphlet and letting the 
leaves slip on each other. In a similar way the plow 
causes the soil to slip and become fine. 

In order that plowing may pulverize the soil suc- 
cessfully, the soil must be in just the right condition 
of dampness. If it is too wet, the particles will 
stick together. If too dry, it will crumble where the 
plow cuts it and the rest of the furrow slice will not be 
broken up. 

The furrow slice should not be turned over entirely, 
but left on its edge. In this way the weather can act on 
it (Sec. 23). This is especially important in fall plowing. 
Fields arc plowed in the fall chiefly in order to let the 
weather act on the soil during the fall and winter. 

29. Harrows, Flankers, and Rollers. — After the field 
is ]:)lowed, the clods of earth must be broken up and a 




36 AN INTRODUCTION TO AGRICULTURE 

fine, loose surface made. Harrows, either disk, spilce, 
or tooth, are used for this purpose. The disk harrow 
is used on hard land and on sod to cut up the sod 

and loosen the soil 
from the grass roots. 
A fine-toothed har- 
row, or sometimes a 
])lanker or roller, is 
used for the final 

A Harhow. ^^■•"•^^ <»f l)rei)aring the 

ground for the seed. 

The j)lanker is made by bolting together three or 
four planks like clajjboards in such a way as to leave a 
rough surface. This 

further breaks the ^^^^^^.^^^^^^^^^^^^^.^^.^ 
clods and smooths the ^^IL^o^if*''^^^ j^^^^^- _ r^.;. 

ground. Th(^ ])lanker, . „ 

however, is likely to 

destroy the surface mulch. If this is done, the ground 
must soon be harrowed again to ])revent the forma- 
tion of a hard crust and the drying of the land. 

A roller is sometimes used to l)reak the clods and to 
pack, or compact, the soil about the seeds. The soil 
soon dries out after a roller has been used, so that it 
should be followed by a light harrow to produce a surface 
mulch. 

Go to a place where plows and other farm machinery are 
sold and examine all kinds of tillage implements. 

It is time and labor well s|)ent to take proper care of 
farming tools. The soil should be cleaned off from 



TILLING THE SOIL 37 

plowshares and cultivator teeth and the machines put 
under cover when not in use. This is especially true of 
hoes, rakes, shovels, and spades which should never be 
allowed to get rusty. 

30. Dry Farming. — A new or improved method of 
agriculture, called dry farming, has recently been used 
in some parts of the West, notably in western Kansas, 
Nebraska, eastern Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and 
Texas. The method aims to save what little rainfall 
there is. This is done by continually stirring the ground, 
so that the rains will be quickly absorbed and evaporation 
prevented. After one crop is removed, the land is im- 
mediately worked again. Sometimes it is tilled all of one 
year to store up moisture so that a crop can be grown 
the following year. This gives one crop in two years. 
With more rainfall two crops are grown in three years, 
and with still more, a crop is grown every year, but in 
each case the same principles are applied. 

By these methods good crops are being raised every 
year where formerly a good crop was an exception. It 
was previously thought that an annual rainfall of about 
thirty inches was necessary, but farmers are producing 
good crops by dry farming with only ten, twelve, or 
fifteen inches of rain annually. Vast areas of dry lands 
in our country that have been considered useless, except 
for grazing, may now be made profitable by these new 
methods. 

Seeds from foreign countries, especially adapted to 

dry climate, are selected for these regions. Among 

them are macaroni wheat, Turkestan alfalfa, dwarf Milo 

maize, Swedish oats, corn, barley, and potatoes. Up to 
4 



38 AN INTRODUCTION TO AOfRICULTURE 

the present, the main product of dry farms lias been 
wheat. 

SUMMARY 

Tilling the soil is working it to change its texture. — General 
tillage is for the purpose of producing a good seed bed. — Inter- 
tillage is for the purpose of sup])lying air in the soil, conserving 
moisture, and destroying weeds. — Tilling makes the soil finer; 
increases the surface of the soil particles, thus making a larger 
feeding ground for the plants; increases the water-holding ca- 
pacity of the soil by making a surface mulch which prevents 
evaporation; kills or hinders the growth of weeds. 

The tools used for tillage are the plow, disk harrow, toothed 
harrow, cultivator, planker and roller, rake, hoe, and other 
hand tools. — Harrows are used to pulverize the soil. — Flankers 
and rollers are used to crush clods, and to make the soil more 
compact and bring it in contact with the seeds. — For successful 
plowing the soil should be just moist enough to turn in a furrow, 
— The main objects of plowing are to overturn and break the 
soil and to plow under manures. — Fall plowing is to expose the 
soil to the action of the weather. 

The methods of dry farming aim to preserve moisture in 
very dry soils so that good crops can be grown there. 



QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 

1. ^\^ly do we cultivate and hoe corn? 

2. Why does the soil in a flowerjjot often produce so much 
better plants than the same amount of soil in the field? 

3. \\'liy are weeds bad for crops? 

4. Why does the garden raise larger cro])s than the field? 

5. Why should plows, harrows, and tools be housed? 

6. If soil is cultivated five inches deep, how many cubic 
feet to the acre are cultivated? If seven inches deej), how 
many cubic feet? If nine inches deep, how many cubic feet? 



TILLING THE SOIL 39 

7. How many acres are there in a piece of land 32 rods long 
by 20 rods wide? 

8. If land of that measurement is plowed back and forth 
with furrows nine inches wide, how far will a man trav'el to plow 
it? 

9. If by extra cultivation a man can raise 100 bushels of 
potatoes more an acre, how many days' work would thus be 
paid for, allowing S3 per day for man and team, if the potatoes 
bring 25 cents per bushel? 

10. How may any one who has a garden apply the lesson of 
dry farming? 

11. Give two reasons for maintaining a surface mulch. 

12. In what way may tillage injure a crop? 



chapti':r V 

ENRICHING tup: soil 

31. Elements and Compounds. — There are three 
foods which are iie('(>ssary to the growth of phiiits which 
farmers often have to supply to the soil. These are 
nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. These substances 
are called elements. An element, according to cliem- 
istry, is a substance composed of only one kind of matter. 
There are about eighty distinct and different elements in 
the world. Most substances that we see around us are 
made up of several elements combined. Two or more 
elements combined make what is called a compound. A 
compound can be separated into two or more different 
kinds of matter that may have no resemblance whatever 
to the original compound. The elements on which the 
plant feeds enter the plant not as elements, but united 
v/ith something else in the form of compounds. There 
are, in fact, about thirteen different elements that are 
used by plants as food. The soil generally contains an 
abundant supply of all but the three mentioned above. 
In addition to these three, lime, magnesium, and iion 
are indis))ensable to plant growth. 

Nitrogen.— 'Nitrogen, being an element, cannot be sepa- 
rated into parts that are anything but the nitrogen itself. 

40 



ENRICHING THE SOIL 41 

It is a gas. It forms four fifths of the air we breathe; 
the other one fifth is mostly oxygen, as you have prob- 
ably learned from your physiology text-book. Nitrogen 
will not burn. When available for the plant, it is com- 
bined with oxygen and a metal, as sodium or potassium. 
Such a substance is called a nitrate, as nitrate of sodium 
or nitrate of potassium. The root hairs, however, take 
from the solution of sodium nitrate the nitric acid and 
leave the sodium. 

Phosphorus. — You have all heard of phosphorus, for 
it is commonly used in the making of matches. It is a 
scarcer element than nitrogen, though more familiar to 
us. Its chief characteristic is that it takes fire readily. 
Phosphorus may be obtained from bones, in which it is 
combined with oxygen and a metal called calcium, an 
important element in lime. The combination of phos- 
phorus, oxygen, and calcium makes a substance called 
calcium phosphate, or phosphate of lime. Shells of 
lobsters, crawfish, and like animals contain calcium 
phosphate in large quantities. Phosphorus is found also 
in a mineral called apatite, and in guano. There are 
large deposits of phosphate rock in Florida, South Caro- 
lina, and Tennessee. 

Potassium. — Potassium is a silvery white metal, soft 
as wax and light enough to float on water. It has to be 
kept in air-tight bottles or under kerosene to prevent its 
absorbing oxygen out of the air or water. Potassium 
is found combined with oxygen and nitrogen in a salt 
called nitrate of potassium, or saltpeter. In the soil it 
exists as suljjhates and chlorides and in other forms in 
which it can be dissolved and used by plants. Feldspar 



42 AN INTRODTTrTION TO AGRIOULTURE 

is one of the chief sources of potassium. It is found also 
in wood ashes in the form of i:)otassium carbonate or 
potash. The potash^ needed for plants can be ob- 
tained from manures and from wood ashes by i)ouring 
water through a barrel of such ashes or by plowing under 
the manure or ashes. The water will take the potash 
out of the ashes. The chief source of potash used in 
commercial fertilizers is found in mines in Germany, 
where it is minetl like salt. 

With a tonponny nail ])unch some holes through the bottom 
of a tin can. Put a piece of cloth in the bottom of the can 
and then fill the can with ashes. Pour a pint of hot water 
through the ashes, catching that which drips through in some 
sort of vessel. Pour the same water through two or three 
times. Evaporate the lye so obtained, either in the sun or on 
a stove. That which remains is crude potash, a compound of 
potassium, carbon, and oxygen. 

32. The Source of the Three Kinds of Plant Foods. — 

Potassium gets into the soil chiefly from the feldsj)ar in 
granite rocks. The action of the weather breaks up the 
feldspar, and the potash is set free or made available. 
Growing plants take up this potash. When the plants 
decay or are burned, the remains or ashes contain the 
potash. 

The decay of rocks is the original source also of phos- 
phorus. This changes in the ])rocess of decay, antl phos- 
phoric acid results. Plants feed on this, and animals 
feeding on the plants take in the phosphoric acid, which 

' The potash referred to in tables and statements giving the 
amount of potash in soils and plants is another compoiuid, viz., 
potassium and oxj'gen. 



ENIIICHINd THE SOIL 43 

combines with other substances to make bones. By the 
decay of plants or of bones the plant food is again set 
free in the soil. And so the same material goes round 
and round. As the scientist says, "It performs the 
cycle of nature," 

Nitrogen for the plant comes from the air (Sec. 31) 
and from the humus of the soil. Nitrogen in the air 
among the soil particles is absorbed and stored up in 
microscopic plant growths called bacteria. These bac- 
teria grow in little bunches, or tubercles, upon the roots 
of certain plants. From these tubercles the nitrogen 
can be released to feed other plants, as will be explained 
in Chapter VI (Sec. 42). 

Other bacteria not living on the roots of plants ab- 
sorb nitrogen from the soil air. They help the decay of 
plant growths and the humus of the soil, and from this 
decay ammonia and nitrates are formed, making the 
needed plant food. These free-living bacteria are in- 
dispensable agents in the soil. As an instance of the 
work they do, we mention two fields at Rothamsted, 
England, which had run wild for twenty-five years. In 
one field the amount of nitrogen taken from the soil and 
air and left in the soil was forty-five pounds per acre per 
year; in the other field it was ninety-eight pounds. The 
greater amount of nitrogen in the second field was prob- 
ably due to an abundant supply of carbonate of lime or 
limestone. 

33. How These Foods Get Into the Plant.— The plant 
foods get into the plant and pass through it by a process 
called os?nosis. The foods are dissolved in soil water, 
which we then call the soil solution, and in the solution 



44 AN INTKODUCTION TO AUKICULTURE 

pass from the soil into the tiny root hairs of the plant. 
As fast as the plant makes use of this food, more of it is 
absorbed from the soil solution by the roots. 

In the minute cells of which these root hairs are 
made, there is something called protoplasm , which is the 
living part of the plant. This protoplasm in the root 
hairs, by the process called osmosis, draws in this soil 
solution, which passes into the cells of the root and moves 
up through the stem and branches, and feeds all the 
tissues of the plant. Thus by a 
constantly moving current the plant 
gets its nourishment. 

You can surely understand now 
how important it is that the soil so- 
lution should be in just the right con- 
tlition to enter the plant properly 
(Sec. 4). You know also that the 
soil must be fine so that there may 
be a great amount of surface to hold 
soil water (Sec, 18). 

To illustrate osmosis, carefully remove 
''f//i I f 11 ^ small piece of the shell from one end 
of an egK and place the cjjp in water. 
The water will jiass through the unbroken 
membrane of the egg, causing the mem- 
brane to bulge out of the shell. Another 
good experiment is to take a cork (rub- 
ExPEHiMi:\T Show iN<; l)(>r jirefcrrod) with a hole in it. Into the 
Osmosis. Ij^jJ^, ^•^^ .^ ghv.ss tube the size of a lead pencil 

and a foot or more long. Bore a hole into 
the end of a carrot large enough to receive the cork and two 
inches or more deep. Nearly fill the hole in the carrot with sugar 



ENRICHING THE SOIL 45 

sirup and insert the cork so that it fits snugly. Place the carrot 
in a bottle of water. The sirup will pass out through the cells 
of the carrot and the water will pass in faster than the sirup 
passes out, so the water and sirup will be pushed up the tube. 

34. The Use to the Plant of Each Kind of Food. — 
It is still uncertain just what each of the important plant 
foods, potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen, does for the 
plant. Some things, however, have been determined. 
We know that the absence of any one of these necessary 
to the development of a certain crop will result in a 
weak, unsatisfactory growth. 

If there is not sufficient potassium in the plant food, 
the plant will grow slowly or stop growing. The addi- 
tion of certain substances containing potassium to the 
soil will again start the plant's activities. Potassium 
seems especially necessary in producing vigorous fruit 
plants and potatoes. 

One thousand pounds of winter wheat contain an 
average of about five pounds of potash, which is a com- 
pound of potassium and oxygen. The same quantity 
of straw contains about six pounds of potash. This is a 
heavy drain on the supply in the soil and all the potash 
in the waste straw should be put back into the soil. 
Farmers formerly got rid of the straw that was left after 
the wheat was threshed by burning it. After some 
years of this practice, the growing crops would not hold 
up their stalks long enough to allow the grain to ripen. 
The farmers then said that the land was becoming so 
rich that it grew wheat too large to stand up. They 
have since learned better. The soil needed more potash 
to make the stalks stronger. This potash can be put 



46 AN INTKODrCTlON TO A(JKICULTrKE 

into the soil by plowing into it the straw loft after thresh- 
ing. This straw decays, and finally the jwtash gets into 
the soil solution in a form that the i)lants can feed on. 

Phosphorus makes the plant vigorous and hardy. A 
good supply is needed especially in the early stages of 
the plant's life. It h(>li)s to make the seeds plump 
and good. Grains contain ev(>n more i)hosph()ric acid 
than potash. Some of the phosphorus in the grain is 
discarded when fine flour is made, and for this reason 
fine fiour is not so complete a food for man as whole flour. 

An abundant supply of nitrogen results in the pro- 
duction of large, healthy leaves and stalks. Hence ni- 
trogen is especially valuable for the plants that are 
raised for their leaves and stalks, as lettuce, asparagus, 
and hay, and for those that must make a vigorous growth 
before setting fruit or seed. Wheat and other grains 
take much nitrogen from th(^ soil. One thousand pounds 
of grain contain sixteen to twenty-four i)ounds of nitro- 
gen. Beans, peas, and such plants contain nnich nitro- 
gen; but they may sometimes leave more nitrogen in the 
soil than they find there, as we shall learn in the next 
chapter. 

35. Barnyard Manure. — An important question for 
the farmer is how he shall provide the food needed by 
his growing croi)S. Close at hand he has a most valuable 
source of plant food. His barnyard manure contains 
material which the plant can easily use. Each thousand 
pounds of manure contain on an average five pounds 
each of nitrogen and potash, and three and one third 
pounds of phosphoric acid. 

The manure may be spread over the ground or it 



ENRICHING THE SOIL 



47 



may be plowed into the soil. As it decays, it makes the 
humus which is so necessary to a rich soil. The texture 




Care of Barnyard Manure — Wrong way. 



of the soil and its capacity to hold moisture are im- 
proved by this means (Sec. 18). 

It is asserted by some authorities that the manure 
"produced annually by each horse or mule is worth $27, 




Care of Barnyard Manure — Right way. 

by each head of cattle $10, by each hoji; $12, and by 
each sheep $2." Much of the value, however, is wasted 
by the slipshod way in which many farmers take care of 



48 AN INTRODUCTION TO AOKK^ULTUKE 

the manure. By exposure to rain more than luilf its 
value may be lost. To preserve its full value, manure 
should he kept moist, comi)act, and under cover, or else 
it should immediately he s])r('a<l on the land. 

36. Other Ways of Enriching the Soil. — Growing 
crops and stubble when plowed under add some of the 
needed food elements to the soil and improve the tex- 
ture of the soil. We have reatl how the straw from 
grains returns potash to the soil when plowed in (Sec. 
34). Stubble must always be plowed under. The ques- 
tion of plowing under green, unharvested croj)s, how- 
ever, is one that needs the farmer's best judgmc^nt. 
There is some danger that the addition of such material 
may make the soil too dry and |)erhaps leave it too loose 
for seeding. This is especially true with light soils, and 
a great mass of green material should not be plowed 
under; with heavy soils the danger is much less. In case 
of a drought, such plo wed-under crops will not decay 
proi)erly so as to make good humus. The time to plow 
under green crops or "green manures " is very important 
and is determined largely by seasonal conditions and the 
crop that is to follow. 

37. Commercial Fertilizers. — Another resource of the 
farmer for enriching the soil is commercial fertilizers. 
He can buy, by the bag, material containing nitrogen, 
phosphorus, and potassium in suitable form for use in 
the soil. In many states it is required by law that these 
commercial fertilizers shall be analyzed under state 
supervision and their sale licensed by the jjroper author- 
ities. The bags in which they are pack(>d must bear a 
printed statement of tho composition of the feiUlizer. 



ENRICHING THE SOIL 49 

Thus, if the farmer knows the particular elements needed 
by the crop he is growing, he can choose the kind of fer- 
tilizer that contains those elements. 

In some localities it is possible to buy wood ashes. 
These contain potash and phosphoric acid, and are first- 
class fertilizer when these foods are needed. Ashes do 
not supply any nitrogen, however. 

It is cheaper, of course, for the farmer to use as fer- 
tilizer the manure produced on the fai-m. This also 
does more good to the soil. But it is sometimes desir- 
able to supplement it with commercial fertilizers. The 
farmer can rely on them to give the plant quickly the 
desired food elements. 

If you have an opjjortunity to work in a garden or field, ex- 
periment with small patches of land, putting no manure on one 
patch, cow manure on another, horse manure on another, wood 
ashes on a fourth, and some commercial fertilizer on a fifth. 
Study carefully the effect on the crops grown on the different 
patches. 

38, Amendments. — It remains to mention another 
class of dressings which are supplied to the land chiefly 
because they improve the texture of the soil or improve 
the chemical condition. Such are called amendments. 
The chief of these is lime. Lime is added to clay soil 
to make it less sticky, and to sandy soil to make it more 
compact. Lime also counteracts in soils the effect of 
acids, which otherwise might harm the crop, and pro- 
motes chemical activities which result in making plant 
food available. It is most likely to be needed by clover 
and alfalfa. If these crops grow well on the soil, lime 
is not likely to benefit other crops. 



60 AN INTHODUCTION TO A(}KICULTURE 

Common salt is another sul)stancc often used on 
soils. It helps to set free the phosphates in the soil so 
that the plant can use them. The best results are se- 
cured in dry seasons, because the addition of a little salt 
aids in the movement of the soil water so that more be- 
comes available to plants. Salt should be used spar- 
ingly, and not at all on a potato or a tobacco crop. It 
will pay better to spend the money for commercial 
fertilizers. 

Gypsum or "land plaster" is also a common amend- 
ment. Others are marl, muck, and chalk. 

In winter, ox])erinient.s may ])o porform(Ml l)y jilantinp; seeds 
in several boxes or flowerpots, filling them with sand, mixtures 
of sand and garden soil, sand and manure in various proportions, 
sand and leaf mold, and sand with' various commercial fertil- 
izers added. Keep a record of the kind of soil in each box or 
flowerj)ot. Watch the growth of the ])lants and decide which 
are the better soils. 

39. Nitrification. — \Xv. have said that the various 
compounds which contain the elements of plant food 
must be changed before the plant can absorb this food. 
Such changes are constantly going on in the soil. The 
process by which the diff(M-ent compounds containing 
nitrogen are changed is called nitrification. Lime added 
to the soil often helps this process. 

Nitrification is the work of minute organisms which 
are active under certain conditions. It consists in the 
union of nitrogen compounds with oxygen, and is the 
final step in the preparation of soil nitrogen for the use 
of plants. To have the conditions right for this ])repara- 
tion of nitrogen for the plant, there must be in the soil 



ENRICHING THE SOIL 51 

air, moisture, sufficient warmth, and the absence of 
strong sunlight. There must be food for the minute 
organisms; and the soil must contain some compound, 
such as calcium carbonate (limestone), with which the 
nitrogen may unite. 

SUMMARY 

Everything in the world is made up from about eighty differ- 
ent elements, thirteen of which go to make up plants and animals. 
The farmer is concerned only with these thirteen elements, and 
he has frequently to provide for three — nitrogen, phosphorus, 
and potassium. — Nitrogen is a gas and constitutes four fifths 
of the air. — Phosphorus is the substance used on the ends of 
matches. It is extracted from bones and other substances. — 
Potassium is found in certain rocks. It is one of the elements in 
potash, and is obtained from wood ashes. 

The three chief plant foods are compounds of nitrogen, phos- 
phorus, and potassium. — The chief nitrogen compounds are 
nitric acid, ammonia, sulphate of ammonia, nitrate of potassium, 
and nitrate of sodium. — The chief compound of phosphorus is 
calcium phosphate. — -The chief potassium compounds are nitrate 
of potassium, sodium nitrate, potassium chlorid, and sulphate 
and muriate of potash. 

All these compounds, except ammonia and nitric acid, are 
called salts and may be found in solution in the soil water. They 
are derived from the decay of rocks and bones, from wood ashes, 
and from manures or fertilizers. — These salts reach the plant 
through its roots. A good supply of the compounds of nitrogen, 
phosphorus, and potassium is necessary to the healthy growth 
of plants. 

The most important enrichment for the soil is barnyard 
manure. It contains all three of the plant foods and also bene- 
fits the land by improving its texture. — Green crops and plowed- 
under stubble enrich the land and improve its texture. — Com- 
mercial fertilizers contain plant food in a soluble form and so 



52 AN INTRODUCTION TO AGRICULTUHE 

produce quick results. — Nitrification is the change that takes 
phice in the soil, by which locked-uj) nitrogen is made available 
for the use of the plant. 



QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 

1. 'What is an element? 

2. VV^hat is a compound? 

3. How many elements make up the earth? 

4. How many elements does the plant use? 

5. Which elements must the farmer often supply? 

6. By wliat ])r()cess does the })lant get its food from the soil? 

7. Name four kinds of plants that are raised for their leaves 
or stalks. What element is especially valuable for such plants? 

8. Is it a good practice to rake leaves into the road and 
burn them? 

9. Why are soils derived from granite rocks more durable 
than those from limestone? 

10. One thousand pounds of tobacco take from the soil 42 
pounds of nitrogen, 5 pounds of phosj)horic acid, and 57 pounds 
of potash. If the nitrogen is worth 15 cents a pound, and each 
of the others 5 cents a pound, what is the total value of the 
substances taken from the soil? 

11. One thousand pounds of corn take from the soil 18 
pounds of nitrogen, 17 pounds of phosphoric acid, and 4 j)ounds 
of potash. What does the corn cost the soil in plant food or 
money cost, based on $10? 

12. If 1,000 pounds of wheat remove 52 pounds of potash 
from the soil, how much will 40 bushels to the acre remove per 
acre? 

13' If the straw weighs one and one half times as much as 
the grain and 1,000 pounds of straw remove 6.3 pounds of 
potash, how much will the straw of 40 bushels remove? 

14. The corresponding amount of phosphoric acid is 7.9 
pounds for the grain anil 2.2 pountls for the straw per 1,000 



ENRICHING THE SOIL 53 

pounds. How much phosphoric acid will be removed by the 
40 bushels of wheat and the straw? 

15. The corresponding amount of nitrogen is 20.8 pounds 
for 1,000 pounds of grain and 4.8 for 1,000 pounds of straw. 
How much nitrogen will be removed by 40 bushels of grain and 
its straw or Problem 13? 

16. If a ton of barnyard manure contains 10 pounds of nitro- 
gen, 6 pounds of phosphoric acid, and 9 pounds of potash, how 
many tons per acre should be used to make up for what the 
wheat removes? It may be necessary to multiply the result 
by 5 because only part, say, one fifth, of the plant food is avail- 
able the first season. Ten to 30 tons is considered the proper 
amount by different authorities. 

17. What is an amendment? 

18. What is meant bv nitrification? 



CHAPTER VI 

LEGUMINOUS PLANTS.— ROTATION OF CROPS 

40. Clover and Its Relatives. — One of the most useful 
crops that can l)e grown on the farm is clover. This may 
seem surprising to you because clover supplies no food 
for man. Its usefulness consists in its improvement of 
the soil for the growth of other crops in addition to its 
feeding value for farm stock. A gi'eat many 3Tai-s ago 
it was known that a crop of clover imi^roved the soil in 
which it was grown, l)ut only recently was the reason 
for this discovered. 

The clover belongs to a family of plants called 
leguminous plants, or legumes. These plants have very 
irregular flowers generally shaped somewhat like butter- 
flies, and seeds in a long pod or legume. The leaves are 
compound, that is, they are made up of three or more 
leaflets like the clover and locust. The family is called 
also the pulse family. To this family belong, besides 
the clover, the locust tree, peas, peanuts, beans, vetch, 
alfalfa,- and some other plants. 

Make a collection of the flowers of the clover, pea, bean, 
alfalfa, and locust and note the similarity. Notice that the 
leaves of all sucli jilants are comi>oun(l. 

54 



LEGUMINOUS PLANTS 



i)i) 



41. Fixation of Nitrogen. — One reason that clover is 
so useful to the soil is because it takes nitrogen from 
the soil air and makes it available for the nourishment 
of other plants. The process of getting nitrogen from 
the air and leaving it in the soil is called fixation of 
nitrogen. Many books have been written on the sub- 
ject, and many experiments have been made with the 
object of finding other ways of fixing nitrogen from the 
air. It can be done by the aid of electricity. 

42. Legumes as Nitrogen Gatherers. — Clover and other 
legumes have a very 
special way of making 
nitrogen available as 
plant food. One might 
expect that, since ni- 
trogen is in the air, 
all plants could get it 
through their leaves; 
but most, if not all, 
plants are unable to 
do this. 

The leguminous 
plants have on their 
roots little bunches 
or tubercles. These 
tubercles contain min- 
ute, simple plants 
called bacteria. These 
bacteria can take ni- 
trogen gas from the air and compound it with other 
things, making nitrates, which furnish food for the plants 




Red Ci.oveu Roots Showing 
tubeucles. 



56 AN INTKODUCTION TO AGKK^JLTUKE 

on which the bacteria Jive. When the roots decay, the 
nitrogen is left in the soil, and other j)lants can then 
use it (Sec. 32). Moreov(>r, the bacteria may make more 
nitrates than can be used by the plants on which they 
grow. The extra supply goes into the soil. 

Sometimes the germs from which the clover bac- 
teria grow are not found in the soil, and the clover or 
other leguminous plant does not grow well. In such 
case the germs can be supplied by adding, at the time 
of planting the seeds, soil which contains the germs, 
obtained from land where clover has been grown success- 
fully. • This process of adding bacteria is called inocu- 
lation. 

Carefully dig up a bunch of clover and wash away the soil 
from the roots so that you can see the tu'berclos. It will not do 
to pull up the plants, as the tubercles will then be left in the 
ground. 

These bacteria, of which there are many kinds, are 
similar to the bacteria that you may have learned about 
in your physiology lessons. Fermentation and decays 
of various kinds arc due to bacteria. 

43. Other Uses of Legumes. — Leguminous plants 
benefit the soil in another way. They are deep feeders, 
that is, their roots go far down into the soil. Thus they 
may feed on material that could not be reached by 
other plants. "WTien their deep-reaching roots decay, 
they leave the ground porous for the entrance of water, 
air, and the roots of other jilants. 

Clover crops are frequently plowed under, and in this 
way the plant food which they contain is made avail- 
able for other plants and humus is added to the soil. 



ROTATION OF CROPS 57 

Leguminous {plants have large leaves and stems that 
are useful for forage. Alfalfa is becoming especially 
popular because it produces a great quantity of hay; 
several crops may be taken off in one season (Sec, 102). 
The seeds produced by certain leguminous plants are 
especially nutritious as food for man and beast. Beans, 
peas, and peanuts, for example, have been used for food 
in all ages. 

44. Rotation of Crops. — It is evident from the above 
how advantageous it is to alternate leguminous plants 
with other crops. There are other reasons, however, 
why the wise farmer does not raise the same kind of 
crop year after year on a piece of land. He plans a 
series of three or four different crops which he grows in 
succession on each field. This alternation of a series of 
crops on the same piece of land is called rotation of crops. 

45. Rotation is a Weapon Against Pests. ^ — An im- 
portant reason why rotation of crops is not only expe- 
dient but necessary is this— many plants are attacked 
by their own particular kind of insects or fungous dis- 
eases. After a crop has been grown on a piece of land 
for some time,^the soil is filled with the eggs or larvte 
of the insect pest or with the germs of the fungus. 
Therefore it becomes necessary for the farmer to starve 
out these pests by changing the crop to one on which 
they do not feed. For example, it becomes almost im- 
possible to raise summer squash in certain gardens 
because of the brown squash bug. If squash is not 
planted there for a few years the bugs go elsewhere and 
a few crops of squash can be gro^vn before the bugs 
return. Potato scab lives in the soil, and if once estab- 



58 AN INTRODUCTION TO AGRICULTURE 

lished and not eliminated by rotation it continues to 
infest successive crops of potatoes. 

46. Rotation Destroys Weeds. — If crops of pirain 
which have no suninicr tillaso are raised continuously, 
the ground becomes overrun with weeds. If a crop of 
grain is followed by corn or potatoes or other tilled crop, 
the soil is stirred and the weeds are thus desti'oyed. 
Different crops require different treatment, anil this 
varying treatment is good for the soil. Potatoes and 
other plants that have food products on their roots have 
to be dug out of the gi'ound, and this digging leaves the 
soil in good condition for the next crop. 

Mucli may he learned 1))- obscrviiij; the practices of neighbor- 
ing fanners and by noticing that flowering plants grow much 
better after being transplanted. Note, also, the difference in 
vigor of crops on new land and on old land. 

47. Rotation Practically Enlarges the Farm. — Differ- 
ent plants have diff(M-ent finnling habits. Some plants 
feed near the surface of the ground and exhaust the 
food there, while others send their roots down and feed 
in an entirely different part of the soil. This practically 
enlarges the farm on which crops of different feeding 
habits are rotated. The roots of clover often go down 
several foot in sandy soil. Wheat {possesses an extensive 
root system, while barley is shallow rooted. By deep 
feeding not only is the surface soil relieved but plant food 
is also brought up and left near the top for surface 
feeders to use later. Fui-thermore, some crops mature 
early while others feed diu'ing the entire season. Early 
peas, for example, are grown in July, while corn con- 



ROTATION OF CROPS 59 

tiiiues to grow till October. The farmer can take ad- 
vantage of these conditions in the rotation of his crops. 
Winter wheat planted in October will grow through the 
late fall and early in spring. After it is cut in mid- 
summer there is, in southern latitudes, still time for a 
short-time crop, and thus the land is used throughout 
the season. Oats and barley mature about three 
months after sowing. 

48. Rotation Regulates the Food Supply in the Soil. — 
When one crop is raised in the same soil for a number 
of years the land tends to wear out. This one crop de- 
pletes the soil of certain kinds of plant food so that 
after a while the crop will not grow well. But the same 
soil can still supply sufficient food for a different crop. 
This is not because different plants use different food 
materials, for it has been found that all plants use 
practically the same kinds of foods. It is because 
different plants use different proportions of the same 
foods. For example, 1,000 pounds of tobacco remove 
from the soil 45 pounds of nitrogen, while the same 
amount of Indian corn removes only about 25 pounds. 
The tobacco removes 50 pounds of potash, while the 
corn requires only 10 pounds. On the other hand, 
1,000 pounds of clover may actually add to the soil 
one half as much nitrogen as it removed and take out 
only 22 pounds of potash. From this it will be seen 
that clover is a good crop for land deficient in nitrogen, 
and Indian corn for land from which the supply of pot- 
ash has been largely drawn. 

The following table shows the number of pounds 
(to the nearest whole number) of each of the principal 



60 AN INTKODICTION TO AGRICULTURE 



plant foods taken out by 1,0U0 i)ound.s of the given 
crop.i (See also Table I in the Appendix.) 



Wheat (gjain and straw) 
Oats (grain and straw). . 

Indian corn 

Clover ^ 

Tobacco 



Nitrogen 



34 
32 
25 
20 
45 



Phosphoric Acid 



11 


14 


11 


26 


9 


10 


^ 


22 


5 


50 



Potash 



49, The Norfolk System of Rotation, — It has taken 
many years of observation and study to determine what 
crops should be used in a series for rotation. The first 
system to gain attention in America, and one still much 
used, consists of roots (turnips), barley, clover, wheat. 
This is called the Norfolk System because it originated 
in Norfolk County in England. It is of more importance 
for having called attention to crop rotation than it is 
for the actual alternation of crops involved. Turnips, 
which are deep feeders, are followed by barley, which 
feeds near the surface. Both of these crops remove 
nitrogen, so clover (a deep feeder) is next growTi in order 
to renew the supi)ly of nitrogen. The system is, of 
course, varied to suit local conditions. In the United 
States corn and potatoes take the place of turnips. A\Tien 
stock is kept on the farm the Norfolk Sj'stem may be 
changed to allow crops of mixed grass and clover for 

1 It should be understood that these numliers are only approx- 
imate for the reason that the proportion of straw or stalks to the 
grain or seeds varies. They illustrate the point, however. 

' As before stated, although the clover contains a large amount of 
nitrogen, it gets much of it from the air. 



KOTATION OF CKOPS 61 

two or three years. Or, if not much stock is kept, sugar 
beets, barley, clover, and wheat may be the series. 
Oats may be grown instead of barley, and rye in place 
of wheat. In certain states corn is used in the series 
for one or two years. In Ohio, clover, potatoes, and 
winter wheat are sometimes grown. In Massachusetts, 
potatoes and corn are grown for two years and grass 
and clover for three years. A common rotation on 
dairy farms is corn, oats, wheat, clover, and timothy 
for two years. The rotations that are employed in 
various regions and under various circumstances are 
almost without number. 

SUMMARY 

Clover is one of the most useful crops on the farm. It be- 
longs to the family of leguminous plants, which includes also 
alfalfa, peas, beans, and vetch. 

Leguminous plants all have the power of fixing the nitrogen 
of the air and making it available for plant food. — These plants 
are known by a peculiar butterfly-shajjed flower, seeds in a long 
pod, and compound leaves. — They are deep feeders and so loosen 
the soil. — They have many leaves, which furnish much forage. 
— They also produce many seeds, which are a valuable food for 
man and beast. 

By rotation of croj^s is meant the changing of the crop from 
year to year on a given piece of land. — Rotation of crops is de- 
sirable for the following reasons: 

Different crops are infested by different insects and associated 
with different weeds; 

Different crops take different amounts of jjlant food; 

Different crops send their roots down to different depths; 

Croj)s vary in their feeding time, some maturing earlier in 
the season and some later; 



62 AN INTKODUCTION TO ACiKICULTURE 

Different crojis need different treatment. 

The supply of humus can be maintained in the soil. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What is a lej^uminous plant? 

2. What are the characteristics of its leaves, seeds, and 
flowers? 

3. Give three reasons why legumes arc useful to the farmer. 

4. Would you plow uniler the whole clover crop or only the 
stubble? 

5. How does the alfalfa crop differ from the timothy? 

6. What is meant by rotation of crojjs? 

7. Give five reasons why rotation should be practiced. 

8. Give one series of (iroj^s for rotation not given in the text 
and explain its advantages. 

9. What should govern the farmc^r in decitling what crops 
he will raise? 

10. Would you follow a crop of oats with a crop of wheat? 
Why? 

11. AVhy is it bad practice to raise tobacco on the same piece 
of land year after year? 

12. What system of rotation do the farmers in your neigh- 
borhood use? Ask them, and ask them why. 



CHAPTER VII 

PLANT FOOD AND HOW IT IS USED 

50. The Factory of Nature. — The plant, as it grows, 
is manufacturing products. It uses the food material 
which it gets from the soil and the air to make starch, 
sugar, oil, and other products. The plant works with 
only a few different elements, but by ]:)utting them to- 
gether in different proportions it makes several products. 
Just as our mothers with flour, milk, water, sugar, and 
yeast or baking powder make many kinds of bread, 
cake, cookies, doughnuts, and rolls, so nature with oxy- 
gen, hydrogen, and carbon makes starch, sugar, and oil. 
Adding to these elements nitrogen, sulphur, and phos- 
phorus, nature — that is, the plant — makes another class 
of foods called proteids. 

51. Oxygen, Hydrogen, and Carbon. — Three elements 
which are necessary to every plant product are oxygen, 
hydrogen, and carbon. 

Oxygen. — Oxygen is a gas that forms a part of air 
and water. It forms about one fifth of the weight 
of the air. Forty-seven per cent of the whole crust of 
the earth is made up of oxygen. Whenever anything 
burns you may know that oxygen is present, for nothing 
can burn without oxygen. Plants, you know, can be 

63 



04 AN INTRODUCTION TO A(;iUCULTURE 

burned. This is because the plant is full of carbon 
which unites with the oxygen in the air. 

Hydrogen. — Hydrogen is a gas obtained from water. 
It is the lightest gas known and it burns with a nearly 
colorless, hot flame. 

Carbon. — Carbon exists commonly as charcoal. The 
black substance on the end of a burned match is carbon. 
A\'ood and coal contain carbon, and when they are 
burned the carbon escapes to the air in the form of gas. 
The carbon combines with oxygen and forms this com- 
pound gas called carbon dioxide, or carbonic-acid gas. 
The breath from our lungs contains carbon dioxide, as 
you have learned in your study of physiology. Man and 
beast do not use the carbon in the air, but plants are 
constantly taking it in. Carbon is very necessary for 
their growth. 

52. The Products of Plant Growth. — Some of the 
products which plants j)roduc(^ as they grow are starch, 
sugar, oil, protein, gums, and woody tissue. 

Starch. — You are probably familiar with starch as 
a substance used in starching clothes. It is also a 
valuable food for man. Potatoes are valuable chiefly 
for the starch they contain. Starch is found in fruits, 
seeds, roots, tubers, and leaves. In making starch the 
plant combines oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon. 

A few drops of tincture of iodine may be obtained from a 
drug store or from a physician. A drop ])ut into a little boiled 
starch will turn it blue; this is a test for starch. By boiling for 
a few moments small pieces of potato, flour, meal, crushed seeds, 
pieces of beets, carrots, etc., and testing, the presence of starch 
may be shown. Pour boiling water over the specimen in a 



PLANT FOOD AND HOW IT lir^ UHED 65 

cu}^ ; wait until it is cold before applying the iodine test. Any 
part of a plant, as leaves, bark, or twigs, may be tested for 
starch in the same way. 




Comparative Yield of Starch from One Bushel of Potatoes. 

Sugar, Oil. — Sugar and oil are made from these 
same three elements. Sugar is found in most fruits, 
and especially in sugar cane, sugar beets, and sugar 
maples. Oil is found in small quantities in all grains, 
and in large quantities in nuts and many kinds of fruits 
and seeds. Olives, for example, contain a good deal of 
oil. 

Protein. — Protein is the name given to a group of 
food substances containing nitrogen. The most im- 
portant substance in this group is proteid, which is found 
in grains and fruits. The sticky part of wheat is proteid. 
It is abundant in beans, peas, and other leguminous 
plants. It is valuable as food because it is used by the 
body in building up muscle. In making protein, the 
plant uses (as we have noted above) nitrogen and a little 
sulphur and phosphorus in addition to the three usual 
elements — oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon. 



66 AN INTKODUCTION TO AGRICULTURE 

Place a teaspoonful of flour on a jiiecc of coarse muslin or 
linen (an old handkerchief is suitable). Bring the sides and 
corners up together to make a sort of bag. Dip it several times 
into a basin of water and squeeze it. The part of the flour that 
comes through is starch; and the sticky mass inside the cloth 
is gluten, a proteid. 

Wood Tissue. — A\Tiat we call woody tissue forms the 
great bulk of the plant. It is the trunk and limbs of 
trees. As wood and lumber it is an important product 
of plant growth. The woody tissue, like starch, sugar, 
and oil, is made with oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon. 

53. How the Plant Digests its Food Elements. — 
The plant manufactures its products by the action of 
the living cells which its leaves contain. In these cells 
is a green substance called chlorophyll. This sul:)6tance 
and the sunlight on the leaves acting together change 
the food which the plant has absorbed. Carbon dioxide, 
you remember, comes in through the leaves (Sec. 4). 
The water absorbed by the roots contains oxygen, hy- 
drogen, nitrogen, and some other foods. The water and 
the carbon dioxide meet in the leaves and other green 
parts of the plant. There, in a wonderful way, they 
are combined so as to make starch and the other plant 
products. 

54. Changing Starch to Sugar. — Starch, as we have 
just learned, is made in the leaves. But as a product of 
the potato plant, for example, it appears in growths on 
the root, called tubers. How is it moved from one 
place to the other? Starch and the other plant prod- 
ucts cannot be moved l)odily from one place to an- 
other. In a i)lant there can be no transfer unless the 



PLANT FOOD AND HOW IT IS USED 67 







material moved is dissolved, or in solution, as we say. 
Now, starch will not dissolve in water, and therefore if 
the starch is to be moved 
it must be changed to 
something that is solu- 
ble. Much of the starch 
made in plants is changed 
to sugar, which is soluble. 
The sugar is then dis- 
solved in water and car- 
ried down into the roots 
and tubers of plants. 
The sugar is used by 
plants in their growth 
and development. 

55. Changing Sugar 
to Starch. — This sugar 
which has been carried in 
solution is not stored up 
as sugar, but is changed 
to starch again. The 

greater part of all vegetable foods consists of such stored- 
up starch. 

This stored-up starch may again change to sugar if 
the plant needs it. The difference between a ripe and a 
green apple is chiefly a difference in the starch and sugar 
which they contain. The green apple makes trouble for 
the boy because the starch is not digestible. If, how- 
ever, the green apples are cooked and made into pies or 
sauce, the starch is made digestible and causes no trouble. 
A change from starch to sugar is indicated by the sweet 




Potato Plant, Showing Potatoes 
OR Tubers. 



68 AN INTRODUCTION TO AGRICULTURE 



taste of sprouting potatoes and roots. In ripening fruit 
also the stored-up starch is changing to sugar. 

56. The Composition of Certain Vegetable Prod- 
ucts. — The following table will give an itlea of the 
amount of starch and sugar, oils, and protein in various 
vegetable products. Starch and sugar are combined 
under the head of carbohydrates : 

Table SHO^\^NG Average Percentage of Digestible 
Carbohydrates, Fats or Oils, and Protein.' 



Protein 



Corn 7.14 

Wheat 10.23 

Timothy hay 2.89 

Potatoes 1.36 

Carrots .S'l 

Alfalfa hay 10.58 

Clover hay (red) 7.38 

Apples .7 



Carbohydrates 



66.12 
69.21 
43.72 
16.43 
7.83 
37.33 
38.15 
18. 



Fat or 
Oil 



4.97 
1.08 
1.43 

.22 
1.38 
1.81 



57. The Production of Heat. — It is interesting to 
know that a plant, like an animal, produces heat when it 
is growing. Although the amount is small, experiments 
have proved that the temperature of sprouting seeds 
may be 18° to 36° Fahrenheit higher than that of the sur- 
rounding air. In the act of flowering, plants may be as 
much as 14° Fahrenheit warmer than the surrounding air. 

Into a wide-mouthed bottle place a number of seeds ready 
to jierminate. After twelve hours cork the bottle tightly, and 
through the cork run a thormometor after taking the tempera- 
ture of the room. Several hours later read the thermometer. 

^ Farmers' Bulletin No. 22, revised edition, except the figures 
for apples. By courtesy of the Office of Experiment Stations. 



PLANT FOOD AND HOW IT IS USED 69 



58. The Production of Seeds. — A study of plant life 
seems to show that so far as the plant is concerned, the 
object of its existence is to produce seed. This, then, is 
another important use the plant makes 
of its food and appears to be the most 
exhausting effort the plant makes. 
When the seed is produced, the plant 
stops its growth for the season, and in 
many cases dies. Some plants produce 
seed and die in one year. These we 
call annuals. Others store up nourish- 
ment for one year, use it all the second 
year in producing seeds, and then die. 
Such plants are biennials. Clovei'S and 
some other plants, if cut before they 
bear flowers, make an extra rapid 
growth to complete their work of pro- 
ducing seed. The farmer can profit 
by this and get several crops of clover or alfalfa in one 
season. 

Seeds form a large part of the food of man and ani- 
mals. It is, therefore, greatly to our advantage that 
plants seem to give all their energies to the production 
of seeds. 




Experiment Show- 
ing Heat Given 
Off by Germi- 
nating Seeds. 



SUMMARY 



The ])lant combines certain elements to manufacture prod- 
ucts. — Important elements in the growth of plants are oxygen, 
hydrogen, and carbon. — Oxygen and hydrogen are gases which 
in combination form water.— Carbon is an element that exists 
commonly as a black mass in charcoal. 



70 AN INTIJODUCTION TO AOKICULTUKE 

The plant, like the animal, uses its food to build uj) tissue, 
to make chemical changes, and to ])ro(luce heat. — The i)lant 
makes starch, sugar, oils, ])rotein, and woody tissue.— Starch, 
sugar, oil, and protein are valuable foods for man, — Proteid is 
an important food sul)stance foimd in grains, fruits, and legumes. 

The food elements are manufactured into ]iroducts in the 
leaves and other green ])arts of the j)lant. — Insoluble starch 
may be changed to soluble sugar and carried to some j^art of 
the plant where it is again changed to starch and stored up 
for future use. 

\'igorous growing plants produce some heat, but not so 
much as animals. 

The production of seeds is the most important thing the 
plant does. 

QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 

1. What is the difference between starch and protein? 

2. Name ten foods that are eaten chiefly for the starch they 
contain. 

3. Why is it better to store U]) food as starch than as sugar? 

4. Why does the plant sometimes change its starch to 
sugar? 

5. Why are ripe apples safer to eat than green ones? 

6. Would you cut clover before it blossoms? Why? 

7. Water is | hydrogen and | oxygen by weight. How 
much oxygen is there in 45 pounds of water? 

8. How many pounds of carboh3'drates, fats or oils, and 
protein are there in 20 bushels of corn? In 25 bushels of oats? * 

9. How many ]iounds of a))])les would you have to eat to 
get as much ])roteid as a jmund of ])otatoes yields? 

10. Which of the foods listed in the table on page 68 has the 
greatest amount of food stuff in a pound? 

11. Name the products of the following plants: Sorghum, 
carrot, flax, hemp, oak trees, hickory. 

' A bushel of oats weighs 32 pounds. A bushel of corn 50 pounds. 



CHAPTER VIII 

PLANT ENEMIES: WEEDS, INSECTS, AND PLANT 
DISEASES 

59. What a Weed Is. — A weed is a plant growing 
where it is not wanted. It is a plant so well adapted to 
the place where it grows that it crowds out more desir- 
able plants. A plant that is an annoying weed to some 
farmers may elsewhere be cultivated in flower gardens. 
For example, the sweet clover is a weed in the Central 
States, but it has been cultivated in New England gar- 
dens for its attractive blossom. 

60. Why Weeds are Enemies. — Weeds are enemies 
because they prevent the growth of plants that are 
wanted. If a man wants to raise lettuce and finds half 
of his crop purslane, although he might eat the purslane 
for greens, yet he will be disappointed. Weeds generally 
grow fast and vigorously. They take from the soil 
moisture needed by the crops, which dry up without it. 
Weeds take also the plant food and so rob the crop. 
The amount of available plant food in the soil at any one 
time is limited, and a few days of rank weed gro\\i;h may 
use up a season's supply and retard plant growth imtil 
more is made available. Weeds freciucntly have lai-ge 
leaves, and they cover the ground and keep from the 

71 



72 AN INTRODUCTION TO ACJKICULTURE 

gi-()\viiig crop the sunlight which it needs. They also 
furnish lodging and food for insects that may later attack 
the crop. Sometimes they poison animals in a pasture. 
At all times they are unsightly and a disgrace to the 
owner. "I went by the fi(>l(l of the slothful, and by the 
vineyard of the man void of understanding; and lo! it 
was all grown over with thorns, and nettlc^s had cov- 
ered the, face thereof." It is inij)ortant to note that 
certain weeds follow certain crops and certain methods 
of farming. 

6i. Classes of Weeds. — Weeds, like other plants, are 
divided into classes — annuals, biennials, and perennials, 
according to their habit of producing seeds and length of 
life. The chickweed is an examjilc of the first class. 
It comes up from the seed in the spring, blossoms in 
midsummer, produces seeds, and dies the same year. 
Biennials may be represented by the bull thistle. This 
plant comes up from the seed, and the first year does 
not blossom but stores up nourishment. The second 
year it uses the nourishment to produce seed and then 
dies. Beets, carrots, turnips, and such jilants as pro- 
duce a fleshy root the first year are biennials. An ex- 
ample of the third class is the Canada thistle. It comes 
up from the seed, produces seed after one or more years, 
and continues to live perhaps for many years. Peren- 
nial herbs die down to the grountl in the fall and grow 
again from the roots in the spring; shrubs and trees live 
on year after year. 

62. Annuals, and How to Kill Them. — Annual weeds 
follow tilled crojis. Among the annual weeds may be 
mentioned the pigweed, shepherd's purse, purslane, rag- 



PLANT ENEMIES 



73 



weed, prickly lettuce, 
and smartweed. In 
fact, most of the com- 
mon garden weeds are 
annuals. These are 
the easiest to kill. If 
they are prevented 
from going to seed, 
and if the young 
plants are hoed u}) 
and covered, that is 
the end of them. The 
seeds of some weeds 
are deeply buried, 
and as the land is 
cultivated these are 
brought near the sur- 
face and soon sprout. 
Constant watchful- 
ness is therefore nec- 
essary even after the 
first growth of weeds 
has been cleared away. 
It is often well to let 
the ground lie a week 
or two after plowing 
before it is seeded, so 
that the weeds may 
have an opportunity 
to spi-out. They will 
then be killed by the 




The Common I'rtcki.y Lettuce 
(Annual). 




Small-leaveu Bukdock (Biennial). 
74 



PLANT ENEMIES 75 

cultivation incident to planting. This gives the crop 
a chance to start before a new lot of weeds springs 
up. Many annuals, and other weeds as well, may be 
killed by burning over a piece of ground before plow- 
ing. It is necessary only to prevent seeding to exter- 
minate annuals. 

63. Biennials, and How to Kill Them. — Common bi- 
ennials are burdock, wild parsnip, teasel, poison hem- 
lock, and bull thistle. It is more difficult to get rid of 
biennials, for even though they are mowed off, the 
roots are left in the ground and they may send up a 
stem to produce seeds the second year. On small 
patches, as lawns, this class of weeds may be killed by 
cutting off the plant just below the ground with a long- 
handled chisel called a spud. Any cultivation that 
prevents such weeds from going to seed will help to free 
the land from them. 

64. Perennials, and How to Kill Them. — The great 
majority of weeds are perennials. Among these may be 
mentioned Canada thistle, plantain, dandelion, oxeye 
daisy, mallow, yellow dock, and toad flax or snap- 
dragon. These are the most difficult of all weeds to de- 
stroy, because both the tops and the roots must be killed. 
As with the other two classes, seed production should be 
prevented by persistent mowing. The root or under- 
ground stem should be jilowed u]) or dug up and ex- 
posed to the sun of summer and the frost of winter or 
raked off and burned. The roots may sometimes be 
starved by preventing any green part to live above 
ground. For example, dandelions in a lawn may be 
killed by cutting off the plant an inch or more below the 




Toad Flax (Perennial). 
76 



PLANT ENEMIES 77 

surface of the ground and pulling out tlie top. This 
can be done very rapidly with a spud. 

On small areas weeds may be smothered })y covering 
with straw so that they will get no air or light; on large 
fields a sod-forming grass may be grown for the same 
inu'pose. Salt, or strong acid, is sometimes used on 
small areas to kill the roots of weeds. 

In general, it may be said, the three methods of 
killing perennials are prevention of seeding, thorough 
and continued cultivation, and smothering by crops. 
Recent experiments show that wild mustard and some 
other weeds may be killed or checked by spraying with 
certain chemicals, as a ten-per-cent solution of iron sul- 
])hate. This docs not injure cereals, corn, grass, or 
clover, but retards the growth of weeds to such an extent 
that the crop is increased twenty per cent.^ There can 
he no effective weed control unless fence corners, road- 
sides, and waste places are kept clean. 

Let each pupil bring into class every noxious weed he can 
name. 

65. Description of an Insect. — An insect is a small 
animal that has six legs and its skeleton on the outside. 
The body is divided into ringlike parts attached to 
each other. These are called segments and are in three 
groups — the head, the thorax, and the abdomen. The 
head has attached to it the jaws, feelers, and eyes. 
The thorax has three rings, to which are attached the 
six legs and the two or four wings, if the insect has any. 

» Science, November 22, 1907, p. 694. 



78 AN INTKODUCTION TO A< JKK^ULTUKE 

The abdomen is segmented and has a low of pores or 
breathing holes along each side. 

66, Life History of Insects. — Insects hatch from eggs 
as do many otlier animals. But instead of growing 
regidarly, they pass through a change, or metamor- 
phosis, as it is called, the young being somewhat different 
from the adult. For e.\ami)le, the young of the butter- 
fly and moth is a caterpillar having a wormlike body 
and many legs. This caterpillar, which is called a larva. 




Typical Insect, a, Uvad witli eves junl moiitli parts; b, thorax, witli 
legs and wings; c, ubilonien, .showing scgnienis. 



grows rapidly and then passes into the pupa stage. In 
this stage it is inclosed in a rather hard shell often 
covered with a silk case called a cocoon. It is quiet, 
and eats nothing. It may occupy this stage for days, 
weeks, or even over winlei-. After a time it comes out 
as an adult insect. It is in the larval stage that many 
insects do their harm by eating vegetation. 

Some insects, as the squash bug, the grasshopper, 
and the cricket, do not pass through a complete change, 



PLANT ENEMIES 



7!) 



but have, when hatcluHl, tlic siiiiic form as tho adult 
oxcopt that their \viuf2;s iin\ vvaiitiiij!;. Sucli insects 
molt, or shed their skin, several times; and alter eacii 
moM, (heir wiims are larii'er than before. 








Ai'i'i.i; 'ruiOK 'ri;Ni'-<'Ari;i(i'ii.i,Ai(. a, chhh; /', t<'iit in whidi liuvn- live; 
c, liirv:i fccdiiifi;; (/, foccjoiis; <■, iidiilt mule molli. 

Insects hiy f!;reat numbers of e^fJi;s, often several 
hun(h-cd, Tho (|U(H'n bee htys seveial thousand in. a (hiy; 
and it is said that vvhit(! ants lay ei{i;hty thousand a day 
for two y(^ars. 

67. Classification of Insects. — In agricultural dis- 
cussion, insects are sometimes divided into two groups, 
cultimj and sucking insects, (hitting insects bite off 



80 A\ IXTKODTTTTON TO AOlUrULTURE 



parts of tlio leaf or i)laHt and devour thpin. Such in- 
sects are sometimes so numerous that they strip a bush 
or tree of its leaves in a few hours. Suclving insects 
insert their loni^;, slender mouth parts into the plant and 
suck tlie juices from it. Some insects l)el()ng to one 
group in one stage of their existence, and to the other 
group in another stage. 

68. Some Common Cutting Insects. — Examples of the 
cutting insects are the larvie of the codling moth, the 
canker worm, the ca]:)bage worm, and the potato beetle. 
The codHng motli is one of the most injurious of in- 
sects. The adult is a small gray moth about one half 

inch long. It lays its 
eggs ou the leaves or 
on the ajijiles just as 
the petals fall, or later, 
if it is the S(>cond gen- 
eration. The larviB 
hatch and feed their 
way into the ajiple, 
which may soon fall if 
it harbors the first gen- 
eration. Aftei'wards 
the larva' work their 
way out of the aj^ple 
antl crawl into a crev- 
ice of the bark or 
other similar ])lace, 
from which they 
emerge as adult insects. If it is the last l)ro(Hl of the sea- 
son, the i)Ui)a i-emains over winter. The larv:e pupate in 







CoDi-iNG Moth, a, the entrance hole; b, 
the burrow; c, the larva; d, the pupa; 
<•, moth at rest; /, moth with wings 
spread; g, head of larva; h, cocoon 
containing i)U])a. 



PLANT ENEMIES 



81 



some crack or hole, or under some scale of the bark. If 
the tree is too smooth they drop to the ground and go into 
it through some crack, or remain under rubbish or clods. 
The larva is the white worm so familiar in apples. 

The canker worm is the larva of a small ash- 
colored moth, the female of which is wingless. The 
larva is sometimes called the measuring worm be- 
cause of its method of traveling by looping its body. 
The eggs are laid 
in patches on the 
bark of a tree. 
The larvae will strip 
the foliage of the 
tree with great ra- 
pidity. After the 
worms have ma- 
tured they s^^^ng 
themselves down by 
a silken thread, bur- 
row in the ground, 
and there go into 
the pupa state. The 
last brood stays in 
the ground over 
winter. 

The cabbage worm is the larva of the well-known 
white cabbage butterfly. It is greenish in color, taper- 
ing at each end, and covered with fine white down or 
hair. The eggs are laid on the leaves of the plant. In 
ten days they hatch, and the larvic feed about three 
weeks. The pupa stage is only about two weeks. 




Cankek Worm, a, adult male; b, adult fe- 
male moth; r, cluster of eggs; d, larva; e, 
larva swinging down from a tree to bur- 
row into the ground. 



82 AN INTKODUCTION TO AGllICULTUKE 

There are generally two broods in a season, one in May 
and one in July. 




Cahbage Worm, a, larva; h, chrysalis; c, butterfly. 

The potato beetle at one time caused an immense 
amount of damage. The adult is about one half inch 




Potato Beetle, a, eggs on iindorside of leaf; h, larva that eats the 
leaves; c, pupa; d, perfect insect; e, wing cover; /, leg. 

long with ten stripes along the back. In the Central 
States there are three broods, the last one remaining in 



PLANT ENEMIES 



83 



the ground over winter. The other two feed about 
twenty days each, and remain quiet in the ground 
about ten or twelve days. The larvae will double in 
size in a few hours. 

69. Some Common Sucking Insects. — Examples of 
sucking insects are plant lice, chinch bugs, the Hessian 
fly, and the grape phylloxera. Plant lice is the name 
given to a group of small insects that have long beaks 
with which they pierce the plant and suck the juices. 
Some are protected by a thin covering, from which they 
get the name of scale insects. A noted example of these 
is the San Jose scale insect, one of the most destructive 
to orchards. This insect is so dangerous that in some 
states it is illegal to sell trees infested with it. 

The chinch bug is less than a quarter of an inch long, 
but it is said to cause more damage than any other 
known species of insect. It is brown 
in color, with white fore wings, each 
having a dark spot near the middle. 
These insects are the greatest enemies 
of the wheat crop. They sometimes 
attack corn also, "fairly blackening 
the stalks with their bodies." Al- 
most as harmful to the wheat crop 
as the chinch bug is the Hessian fly. 
The eggs are laid in the leaves of 
the wheat. The larvse attack both 
the root and the stalk. 

The grape phylloxera is a very destructive insect 
that stings the roots and sucks the juice of grape \'ines. 
Another harmful insect is the plum curculio, which lays 




Chinch Bug. 



84 AN INTRODUCTION TO A(,RICULTURE 

its c(T^s in the groon fruit. From these eggs the young 
hatch and feed upon the plums, which soon droj) off. 
There are many other insects injurious to vegetation, 
for an account of which the student is refernnl to the 
books and pamphlets listed at the end of the book. 

Let each pupil bring into class all the above-named insects 
he can catch. 

70. Insect Control. — Biting insects are exterminated 
by spraying the foliage with poisonous mixtures so that 
the insects take the i)oison in their food. Sucking in- 
sects are destroyed by actually being hit by the spray. 
Good standard insecticides for biting insects are Paris 
green and London purple. For sucking insects, the 
most common remedy is a kerosene emulsion. This 
closes the breathing j)ores so that the insect is smothered. 
Formulas for the various insecticides will be found in the 
Appendix. These licjuids are a])i)lic(l with a spray pump 
made for the puri)ose. For the codling moth spraying 
is sometimes done as many as five times with a com- 
bination of Bordeaux mixtuie and Paris green. The 
first spraying is done as soon as the j^etals have fallen, 
the second three or four weeks later, and the third about 
nine or ten weeks after the petals have fallen; the fourth 
and fifth at intervals of two or three weeks. It is often 
necessary to hand pick or dig out insects. 

Insect enemies may be greatly diminished in number 
by carefully collecting and burning all rubbish, such as 
fallen limlis of trees, twigs, and stubble. Eggs and the 
wintering insects may be hidden there, and the burning 
will destroy them. Neatness then brings its own reward. 



PLANT ENEMIES 85 

Prepare some kerosene emulsion and Bordeaux mixture 
according to the formulae in the Appendix and tiy them where 
needed. 

71. Nature of Plant Diseases. — The third great 
enemy of the farmer's crop is disease. Plant diseases 
are caused by bacteria, molds and fungi, organisms that 
belong to a group of low vegetable forms which, not 
having chlorophyll in their cells, are obliged to get their 
food from some higher plant. 

These low forms grow mostly from spores, which 
take the place of the seeds of higher plants; sometimes 
they propagate by dividing into two or more parts. 
These spores are very small and innumerable, and are 
light enough to be carried by the wind. Familiar evi- 
dences of these lower plants are corn smut and wheat 
rust. AVhen broken, the corn smut, as is well known, 
sends out a great cloud of brown dust; each particle of 
this dust is a spore, which may produce other corn smut. 
Because of the vast number of spores, these organisms 
are multiplied or propagated with great rapidity. 

The leaves of gooseberries in the spring may often 
be seen to have light yellow spots on them. These 
spots are "rust" and are the result of these spores. 
The white coating on the surface of lilac and pea leaves 
is a familiar example of mildew. 

72. Some Common Diseases and Their Treatment. — 
Some of the most familiar plant diseases are the fire 
blight, oat smut, potato scab, potato blight, peach curl, 
])lack knot, and fruit mold. 

The fire blight gives to the end of apple and pear 
tree twigs the well-known blackened appearance. It is 



80 AN INTKODUCTION TO AlUilCULTUHE 

caused l)y bacteria growing in the inner layer of the bark. 
The twigs should be cut off and burned. 

The oat smut is a fungus which does much damage 
to the oat croj) every year. It is said that ten to forty 



HI 


mn 


^^^HTj^Svl 


H^^R^HS^m^I 


^^^^^^^^^Hi^B J ^^^■'wVfl 


^^^^^k^V^HBvwM^^^^H 




^^H^H 


^^^^HM/ ^^M jit 


^HH|B 


^pm 


^H 


^^^^^m 





a b 

a — Five IIkads of Ci.kan Oats. 6 — Five IIkads of Smitty Oats. 
Note the black smut in the grains and the small size. 



PLANT ENEMIES 87 

per cent of the crop is annually ruined by this disease. 
In the spring when the seed oats are planted minute 
spores of the oat smut are sown with them. The smut 
spores begin to grow about the same time that the oat 
seed does. They form very small threads — smaller than 
a cobweb — down in the ground. You have noticed 
such threads when mold grows on bread. The little 
threads enter the young oat plants, the sap of which 
they use for their food and grow rapidly. The plant is 
weakened by furnishing food for all these threads that 
run through its roots, stem and leaves. When it is 
ready to blossom and form oat seeds, the fungus is ready 
to produce black spores. The ends of the threads grow 
out on the head of grain and give rise to immense num- 
bers of minute, black spores. The oat plant has not 
had a fair chance and it will produce few oat seeds as a 
result. If the farmer cuts the oat plants and carries 
them to his barn, there will be millions of these spores 
among the grain. Some of them will be mixed with the 
good oats and when sowed the next spring will produce 
the same or worse results. If, however, the oats' that are 
to be planted are soaked for twenty minutes in a weak 
solution of formaldehyde, made by pouring one pint of 
formaldehyde into a barrel of water, the smut spores 
will be killed and the oats will not be injured. They will 
be just as good for planting but must not be fed to stock 
after being soaked in the formaldehyde. 

The mildew that attacks grape vines consists of fine 
threads similar to those just described. It can be 
largely prevented by spraying the vines with the Bor- 
deaux mixture. 



88 AN INTRODUCTION TO AOIJICULTUKE 

Potato scab, familiar to all farnicrs, is caused l)y a 
fungus that grows from spores on the seed potato or in 
the ground. The remedy is to soak the seed potato in 
the formaldehyde solution. If the ground lias produced 
potatoes for some time and the sjiores arc^ in the ground, 
this remedy will not work and the crop should l)e grown 
elsewhere for a i)eriod of years. Potato blight affects the 
leaves and travels from the leaves and stems tlown into 
the tubers, causing them to rot. It may be controlled 
by spraying with Bordeaux mixture. 

Prepare the formaldehyde mixture and treat some sea1>by 
potatoes and smutty oats. Plant some small i)atches with the 
treated seeds and others with the untreated seeds, and see 
whether there is a difference in the product. 

Mixtures for destroying fungi are called fungicides. 
Directions for prejiaring and using fungicides may be 
found in the Appendix. 

SUM]VIARY 

A weed is any plant that grows whore it is not want(Ml. — 
Weeds arc enemies because they absorb moisture and take the 
plant food needed by the crops. — Weeds, like all other plants, 
are divided into annuals, biennials, and perennials. — Annuals 
and biennials may be destroyed by preventing their going to 
seed. — Perennials must be dug up and destroyed from the roots. 

Many kinds of insects do serious harm to plants. — It is in 
the caterpillar or larval stage that insects generally destroy 
vegetation. — Insects are classed as cutting and sucking insects. 
— The cutting insect eats off leaves; the sucking insect takes 
the juice of plants. — Insects may be destroyed by spraying 
with poisonous mixtures or various other liquids. 

Plants are subject to diseases in the same way that animals 
are. — Plant diseases arc called miUlcws, scabs, molds, and smuts. 



PLANT ENEMIES 89 

— These diseases are oontrolled by cutting off and burning the 
diseased parts and by spraying with various solutions. 



QUESTIONS 

1. Why is it more difficult to exterminate a perennial weed 
than an annual? 

2. Name some of the worst weeds. Are they annual, bi- 
ennial, or perennial? 

3. Why are Canada thistle and dandelion hard to keep in 
check? 

4. Name a half dozen injurious insects. 

5. Which is it better to kill, a moth or a grub? Why? 

6. How does a blight injure a plant? 

7. Why should the dead vegetation around a wheat or oat 
field be burned? 

8. Why will not Paris green kill sucking insects? 

9. Is it better to let the windfalls from apple trees lie on the 
ground or should they be fed to some animal? Why? 

10. Which is the better farming, to prevent weeds or to kill 
weeds? 

11. Is it good jjractice to allow weeds to cover the ground 
after garden crops are gathered? Why? 



CHAPTER IX 

THE FARMER'S FRIENDS: BIRDS, TOADS, INSECTS 

73. Birds and Their Food. — While a large i)art of 
the farmer's work consists in fighting insects, weeds, 
and other injurious things, he has some valuable friends 
who work with and for him. rrol)al)ly the most valu- 
able are the birds. They aid the farmer by eating in- 
sects and seeds of weeds. To some extent they eat in- 
jurious animals, such as mice and gophers. 

Young birds grow rapidly and require a great amount 
of food. Many of them ai-e fed mostly on insects. It 
has been estimated that a pair of sparrows will carry 
more than threes thousand caterpillars to their nest in 
a week. A young robin kept in captivity was fed sixty 
earthworms a day, and an observer claims that a pair of 
young European jays were fed a half million cateri)illars 
in a single season. Professor F. H. King, in observa- 
tions made in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, and in 
Ithaca, New York, counted on an average thirty-three 
birds per mile in A\'isconsin and fifty-seven per mile in 
New York. It is probable, as he says, that this number 
represents not more than half of those occupying each 
square mile. Is it not evident, then, what a great and 
constant hv\\) the birds are to the farmers ? 

90 



THE FAK]\[EK'S FKIENDS 



91 



74. Useful Birds. — Birds that help the fanner may 
be divided into three groups: First, those that Hve 
chiefly, or prefer to live, upon animal food, such as in- 
sects in their various stages. Among these birds may 
be mentioned the robin, thrushes, bluebird, kinglet, 
scarlet tanager, bobolink, kingbird, pewees, black-billed 
cuckoo, and woodpeckers. Second, those that eat both 
animal and vegetable 
food. Among these 

may be mentioned ''T^'^^^^^^^ 1/ 
the catbird, brown 
thrush, white-bellied 
nuthatch, chipping 
sparrow, marsh rob- 
in, and purple grackle. 
Third, those that pre- 
fer a vegetable diet of 
seeds. Among these 
may be mentioned 
the finches, thistle 
bird, and indigo bird. 
It is not to be under- 
stood that hard and 
fast lines can be drawn among the birds in regard to 
their food. Birds have their preferences, but the season 
of the year and the abundance or scarcity of a given food 
determine to a large extent the kind of food eaten. 

The robin is a diligent seeker for catcri)illars, cut- 
worms, white grubs, and earthworms in lawns, fields, and 
meadows. In early morning and late evening, this bird 
may be seen awaiting its prey. All of a sudden it darts 




Kingbird. 



92 AN INTRODUCTION TO A(JK1CULTUKE 

its bill into the ground and brinirs up a worm. The 
robin oats caterpillars also, and otlici' larvte feetlin<j; upon 
shrubs and vines. 

The thrushes s})end most of their time in thickets 
and trees, and some observers have consequently 




Rodin. 



thought that they eat buds. An examination of the 
stomachs of numbers of thrushes, however, has indi- 
cated that seventy to ninety per cent of their food is 
ground-infesting insects and Iarva\ 

The bluebird catches its i)rey either on the wing or 
on the ground, thus taking a wide range in its feetling. 
It comes early in the spring, rears two or thi-ee broods of 
young, and for their food destro3'S an immense number 
of insects. The bluebird seems to like cultivated fields 
and the society of man, and thus its activities are in an 
especially useful place. 

The scarlet tanager is a beautiful bii-d that inhabits 



THE FAKMEirS FKIENDS 



93 



the border of woodlands and, to some extent, orchards. 
From the woodlands it makes excursions into the ad- 
jacent fields to capture insects. Although it eats cher- 
ries, its useful work fully offsets the damage it does. 




\\'uoU TlliiLall. 



The woodpeckers and their habits are well known. 
These birds spend their time seeking the larvae hidden 
in the crevices and under the bark of trees. The golden- 
winged woodpecker gets its food both from the trees and 
from the ground, its favorite food being ants. Most of 
the woodpeckers undoubtedly are beneficial, although 



94 AX IXTKODUCTIOX TO A( I IMCULTUKE 

sometimes they may do some damage by eating useful 
insects. 




t^, \V 



1 >i i\\ \ ■! W'l II Hil'l I KKU. 



Tiie catbird, because of its fondness for fruit, is not 
to be ranked among the most useful birds; Init it is 
generally agreed that it does more good than harm. Its 



THE FARMER'S FRIENDS 95 

haunts are the underbrush and brambles, which are 
good hiding places for larva), and upon these it lives 
during much of the year. During the breeding season 
the song of the catbird is not to be despised, being some- 
what similar to that of certain of the thrushes, whose 
relative it is. 

The nuthatches follow after the woodpecker, and ex- 
tract the small insects in crevices of the bark of trees. 
They are very lively and seem to be constantly eating, 
so that they make up in diligence and appetite what they 
lack in size. 

The sparrow, the most common of all our birds, is 
generally considered a seedeater, being very fond of 
weed seeds of all kinds; but with the exception of the 
English sparrow, all sparrows feed mainly on insects in 
the spring and early summer, and the young are fed 
almost entirely on insects. The English sparrow is the 
only real pest in this family. 

The finches have strong bills adapted for removing 
the hard shell of seeds. They, together with other 
birds of their class, devour immense quantities of the 
seeds of weeds. 

The Baltimore oriole eats grapes in their season, but 
it also does good by eating the pupa of certain insects 
which do much damage to trees. It is probable that 
the benefit is much more than the damage. 

The meadow lark, killdeer, and plover, during their 
stay in the North, feed almost entirely upon insects. 
Even birds of prey do some good by destroying some 
small animals that are injurious to plants, such as field 
mice. 



9G AN INTRODITCTION TO AOKICULTURE 

Watch the various birds and learn thoir foo(Hn<; habits. It 
is often possible to get into a position where the feeding of the 
young ma}^ be noted. 

75. Attracting the Birds. — In onlor that wo may 
have more birds living about our homes, to help destroy 
insects and give us pleasure by their songs and beauty, 
we must provide them with conditions which are favor- 
able to their ways of life. Birds must find suitable 
])hu'es for building their nests. The ])Iaiiting of trees 
antl shrubs is the very best way of attracting birds. 
Clumj)S of shrubb(My will afford excellent nesting places 
for shy lairds, while the crotches of trees will be used by 






BiKD Houses, a and b, made from boxes; c, made from a tin can. 

robins and many others. The boys can easil}'' make 
bird houses for wrens, martins, bluebirds, and chicka- 
dees. These birds do not care for fancy houses — old 
boards are better than new ones for buikling the houses. 
AVrens will often occupy a tin can or a small pail which 
has been fastened to a board with the closed end u]) and 
a small hole made in the side. This opening should not 
be over an inch in diameter for wrens ; then the English 



THE FAKMEirS FEIENDS 



97 



sparrow cannot enter to trouble them. Old branches 
that have knot holes of some depth may be fastened on 
posts, and will often attract bluebirds or chickadees. 
The barn swallows should be allowed to nest in the barn. 
If the barn door is kej^t closed it is a good plan to leave 
open a small window, or even to make a few holes so 
that the birds may come and go freely. 

Materials may be supplied for nest building. Robins 
and orioles often spend much time searching for threads 
and strings suitable for use. Narrow strips of cloth will 
be used in the 



nest by them and '*' 
by some other 
birds, as thrushes 
and catbirds. It 
is always inter- 
esting to watch 
the birds as they 
come to the shrubs 
to gather these 
strings and strips 
of cloth, to see 
how they will pull 
them free from 
the branches and 
carry them i n 
their bills to their 
nests. If mud can 

be supplied it \\ill also help the robins in their nest 
building. 

The matter of food supply is a more pressing ques- 




SlNGING WHILE HiS MaTE BuILDS. 



ys AN INTKUDL'CTIU.N TO A< JKICL l.TUKE 

lion with tho birds than with human l)('infi;s, for thoy 
cannot ston^ away food to any great extent. Durinj; 
tlie summer days (liere arc insects in abundance and 
often seeds and fruits. As a rule tho birds prefer the 
wild fruits if they can find any near their nests. In the 
winter the birds that remain have difHculty in finding 
food. Then it is that a piece of suet or other fat meat 
fastened to a tree, or sc^ne cracdved nuts placed in a 
siiallow box on a tree, will sei've to call the chickadee, 
nuthatches, hairy woodpecker, down}' woodi)ecker, 
brown creej)er, blue jay, and English sparrow. Often 
during the breakfast hour a score of these birds are seen 
eating from tlie suet placc'd on a tree nejir the dining- 
room window. Many of the number are l*]nglish spar- 
rows, but the other birds come regularly and take their 
turn also. It is just as necessary, also, to sujjply coal- 
ashes or sand, which furnish mineral matter re<iuired by 
seed-eating l)irds to grind theii- food. By feeding these 
birds, more of them will come in the winter, and they 
cat great numbeis of insect eggs and \m\Kv which have 
been hidden in the cracks on the bark of trees. This 
makes a lessening of the insect ])ests tlu> following 
summer. 

Wat(T is essenlial (o bird lif(\ Often our feathered 
friends suffer in (he summer lime because they cannot 
readily find j)laces to drink and bathe. It is an easy 
matter to place a |)an or shallow dish partly filled with 
water on a j)ost out of reach of cats. Most of you will 
be surj)rised at tlie number of l)ird visitors that will 
come every day to seek a drinking fountain. 

If the stray cats of the neighborhootl can be disposed 



THE FAKMEirS FRIENDS 99 

of this will servo as a very valuable way of increasing 
the number of birds about our homes. Pet cats often 
catch birds, even ))et cats with bells fastened around 
their necks will catch and eat younji; l)irtls. The home- 
less cats cat large numbers of birds every year and 
should be disjjosed of. Children should be taught to 
care for the birds and not to molest them. 

76. Toads and Frogs. -The toad can lay no claim to 
beauty, but there is no more useful animal of its size. 
One of the most amusing pastimes is to catch rose bugs 
and j)ut them down in fi'ont of a toail. The bugs sud- 
denly disappear. The toad's tongue is attached at the 
front of its mouth. It is covei'ed with a sticky sul)- 
stance, and can be snapped out like a whiplash. There 
seems to b(; no limit to tlie number of bugs a toad can 
ejit, so that toads exert a great i)ower for good in ridding 
our gardens of destructive insects. The eggs of toads 
are laid in the water, in strings of a jelly-like substance. 
The tadpoles that are hatched from the eggs are useful 
in (l(;vouring the refuse matter in the i)ond. Frogs per- 
form tlu; same service. 

77. Useful Insects. — You might think from the last 
cliai)ter that all insects are enemies of the farmer, 
but such is not the case. There are many insects 
which helj) him greatly by destroying other harmful 
insects. 

One of tlie useful insects is the iclmeumon fly, dis- 
tinguished by having bristles at the end of the abdomen, 
sometimes several inches long. These are for the pur- 
l)ose of placing the eggs and serve also as a drill for 
piercing whatever the eggs arc to be placed in. There 



100 AX INTRODUCTION TO A( I IM( T l/PTRE 



arc several thousand varieties of ichneumon flies. They 
lay their eggs in the eggs, larva>, or pupa' of other in- 
sects, or in crevices where other eggs are laid. AMien 

the ichneumon eggs hatch, 
the young procectl to feed on 
their host or their neighbors, 
as the case may be. 

The Chalcis 
flies are minute 
insects that lay 
their eggs in the 
eggs of the cotlling moth and 
other insects. As many as 
four Chalcis eggs are some- 
times deposited in one egg of 
another insect, which is thus 
destroyed when the young 
hatch and feed on it. 
Lady bugs are bright-colored beetles that feed on 
plant lice, the eggs often being laid in the midst of a 
cluster of the lice. The ladybug was recently in great 




Ichneumon Fly Piercing 
THE Bark of a Tree. 




Caterpillar, Showing the Holes in its Skin from which the Ich- 
neumon Fly Parasites have Issued. 



demand to tlestroy the "green" bug in the wheat fields 
of Kansas. Lion and tiger beetles, as their names would 



THE FAKMEirS FRIENDS 101 

indicate, prey upon other insects, siicii as caterpillars 
and earthworms, 

Dragonflies and damsel flies, with their beautiful 
gauzy wings, are familiar over stagnant pools, where 
they are beneficial in catching flies and mosquitoes. 
Their eggs are often laid under water. The larvuo live 
in water, and even in the pupa stage they feed on water 
insects and small tadpoles. 

Watch the animals and insects mentioned and notice their 
habits. 

SUMMARY 

Birds are amonj; the farmer's most useful friends. — If it 
were not for birds, insects would probably stri]) the earth of 
vegetation. — Birds may be divided into those that live chiefly 
on animal food, those that live chiefly on vegetables, and an 
intermediate grouj). — Insects are the natural food of many 
birds, especially young birds. — Vegetable feeders help the 
farmer greatly by eating seeds of weeds. — Many birds that eat 
fruit during a small part of the year more than make up for 
such damage by eating insects at other times. 

Much may be done to make conditions better for the birds, 
so that more will come to live with us. Bird houses an? easily 
made, and food may be sui)plied in the winter months to induce 
more birds to remain in the vicinity. 

Toads and frogs destroy many insects and should be pro- 
tected. 

Many useful insects i)rey on the harmful insects and so help 
to diminish their number. 

QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 

I. If insects lay as many eggs as they are said to, why do 
they not become more numerous? 
8 



102 AN INTRODUCTION TO A( JRICULTUKE 

2. What are the three groups of birds, according to their 
choice of food? 

3. In what season of the year do birtls destroy the greatest 
number of insects? 

4. What is the difference between a toad and a frog? 

5. Counting 40 birds to the square mile, how many birds 
are there in your State? 

6. Allowing each bird 50 insects a day for the 120 days of 
summer, how many insects are destroyed during the summer? 

7. Three golden-winged woodj)eckers were found ])y King 
to have in their stomachs, respectively, 255, 220, and 200 ants. 
Suj)posing this to represent one day's ration, how many ants 
would these three birds eat in four months? 

8. During an outbreak of Rocky Mountain locusts a marsh 
wren was seen to carry 30 locusts to her young in one hour. At 
this rate, how many would she carry in 7 hours? 

9. If there were 20 broods being thus fed, to the square mile, 
how many insects would be destroyed in the 78,000 square miles 
of Nebraska's area? 

10. Each locust in Problem 9 weighs 15 grains and there are 
7,000 grains in a pound. If each locust would consume its own 
weight of standing crops each day, how much would be saved 
by the birds, allowing $10 per ton for the crops? 



CHAPTER X 

PROPAGATION OF PLANTS BY SEEDS 

78. Seeds. — Already you must have realized that 
seeds are very important. You have learned how the 
plant starts its growth from the seed, feeding at first on 
the nourishment stored there (Sec. 2). As the produc- 
tion of seed is the object of the plant's existence (Sec. 
58), let us see now how the seeds are produced, 

79. Flowers. — We may regard flowers as the first 
stage in the production of seeds. Many plants, of 
course, are raised solely for the beauty of their flowers; 
but if the blossoms are unpicked you know they will 
"go to seed." Other plants have flowers which we 
hardly notice, for we are interested only in the grains or 
fruits that grow from the blossoms. For example, the 
ear in its early stage and the tassel of the corn plant 
are really its blossoms. The flowers of the berry 
plants and fruit trees are familiar. The elm, the maple, 
and other trees also have flowers, although you may 
never have looked closely enough to see them in the 
spring, 

80. The Parts of a Flower. — In order to see where 
and how the seed is produced, wc must take a flower to 

103 



101 AX IXTltODUCTION TO A( JKICULTURE 

pieces and learn its parts, ^'oii will notice first a sort 
of cup whore the flower i-ises from the stem. This is the 
cahix. It is sometimes slit into parts, like little leaves, 
which are called sepah. The sepals (jf most flowers are 
green. Inside this green calyx cup is a row oi- cluster of 
snowy white or colored leaves, or petah, forming the 
corolla. This is generally the pretty part of the flower 
which attracts our attention. In the heart of the flower 
you will find a cluster of slender threads, called stamens. 
At the tip of each stamen is a knob, containing at a cer- 
tain time of the year fine powder. This fine, powd(>ry 
substance is called pollen, and the knob is the anther. 
There is still one more part of the flower to notice — the 
part for which the other parts exist. At th6 very center 
of the flower is the pistil, the seed organ. Often there 
are several or many ])istils. At the top, the pistil is en- 
larg(>tl a little to form what is called the stigma. The 
base of the pistil is the ovary, and there the seeds are 
formed. The part comiecting the ovary and the stigma 
is called the style. 

Some flower of the rose family may be taken to learn 
these parts. To this family belong the ai)ple, pear, 
plum, cherry, strawberry, raspberry, l)lackberry, and 
roses, so it will be easy to obtain a si)ecimen. Let us 
take the strawberiy. The calyx will be found to have 
five parts, and outside of these are five other leaflike " 
parts called bracts. Five white petals next appear, and 
inside of these are the numerous stamens, each bearing 
at the top its anther. In the center of the flower are 
found the pistils, which are numerous and gathered in a 
clump or head. Sometimes we find strawberry or other 



PROPAGATION BY SEEDS 



105 



blossoms which lack either pistils or stamens; such 
blossoms are said to be imperfect. . 

Not every blossom contains all these parts. Some 
I)lants have no sepals or petals on their blossoms. Cer- 




Development of the Pear, a, branch of tho tree, showing flowers; 
b, section of flower, showing parts; 1, calyx, showing sepals; 2, 
corolla, showing petals; 3, stamens; 4, stigmas; .">, styles; G, ovary, 
showing seeds; c, ovary developed into the pear. 



106 AN INTRODUCTION TO AGRICULTURE 

tain other plants have stamens and pistils on some of 
their blossoms, but not on all. Sometimes the stamens 
are on one blossom of a plant and the pistil is on another 
blossom of the same plant. Most flowers tlo not have 
bracts. 

Examine flowers carefully until you can easily distinguish 
the parts. 

8i. Pollination. — In order that the seed may be 
formed in the ovary, it is necessary that pollen shall fall 
or be i)laced on the stigma. At the season of the year 
when the pollen is ripe, the stigma is in just the right 
condition to receive it, that is, the stigma is sticky and 
the pollen will adhere to it. The grain of pollen on the 
stigma sends a shoot down through the style into the 
ovary, where it reaches the forming seed or ovule, as it 
is called, and fertilizes it, so that it will grow to a live 
seed able to sprout and jiroduce a plant. As the anther 
containing pollen and the stigma (the top of the pistil) 
are frequentlj'^ close together, it looks like a simple act 
for the pollen to fall on the stigma. But we have just 
learned that stamens and pistils do not always grow 
together in the same blossom or even on the same 
plant. How, then, do you sup])()se this fine, almost 
invisible, powder can be carried from one plant to 
anotlKM- ? 

The breeze wafts some pollen and distributes it to 
stigmas; but there is another and surer way. Bees and 
other insects flying from flower to flower are the chief 
means of pollination, that is, of transferring pollen from 
anther to stigma. W\um they alight on a blossom they 



PROPAGATION BY SEEDS 



107 




A Bee Gathering Honey, and Show- 
ing How THE Pollen can Rub 
Off on Its Body and Legs. 



may brush on their body some of the pollen and when 
they visit the next blossom this pollen may rub off on 
the stigma. The visits of insects are, therefore, very 
necessary to the flow- 
ers if good seeds are to 
be produced. To at- 
tract them the flower 
has several devices — 
its bright color and 
its sweet perfume, its 
whiteness and its nec- 
tar. The insects al- 
ways seek the sweet 
substance which is gen- 
erally foujid deep in 

the cup of the blossom, and in probing for it they un- 
aw^ares do their special service for the plant. 

82, Cross Pollination and Hybrids. — The pollen must 
unite with the ovule in the ovary in order that fertile 
seed may be produced. This grain of pollen may come 
from the same blossom or from that of another plant of 
the same kind. When the pollen from one plant enters 
the ovary of another to produce seed, we have what is 
called cross pollination. The seed that results from 
cross pollination may produce a better plant than either 
of the original or parent plants. The characteristics 
of the two parents are united in it. In this way new 
varieties of plants may be formed. 

Sometimes we combine the characters of two kinds in 
a new plant. Such a plant is called a hybrid. Two 
varieties of apples may be crossed in this way. In such 



lOS AN INTIfODrCTION TO A( iincrLTUUp] 

cases pollination is not h^ft to the cliancc of wind or boos, 
hut tho crossing is dono by hand. Tlio (lualitios most 
dosirod in a i)lant can soniotinios bo ()l)tainod by select- 
ing carefully the two parents of a seed. 

When pollination is done by hand tho aiithois of one 
flower are removed with forceps or scissors before the 
flower opens and the flower inclosed in a ))a])er bag tied 
around the stem. When the flower opens and the stigma 
is ready to receive the pollen, this is obtained from an- 
other plant and applied to the stigma of the first flower 
with a small brush or even with the finger. The flower 
is then covered again with the paper bag, which may be 
replaced with a gauze sack after the fruit is set. Dozens 
and even hundreds of flow(M-s may be thus ])ollinated in 
an experiment and the s(hhIs planted and allowed to 
develo}) to see whether they will produce improved 
plants. 

Agricultural experiment stations and private in- 
vestigators have secured remarkable results in crossing 
I)lants. Among the most noted jilant l)reeders may be 
mentioned Luther Burbank, of Califoi-nia, who has pro- 
duced some miusual fruits and plants. One of these is 
the Wickson plum, jjroduccMl by crossing the Burbank 
and the Kelsey plums. It combines the best qualities 
of both its ]:)arents, having the shape of the Kelsey and 
being of a delicious juicy (juality. A hybrid made by 
crossing the apricot and the plum is cnih^d a pluincot by 
its originator. White blackberries, seedless a])i)les, and 
stoneless jirnnes aie other of Mr. Burbank's creations. 

83. Propagation of Plants. — The farmer, however, is 
less directly concerned with these special matters of 



PKOPAGATION BY SEEDS 109 

])ollination than with the simple production *of plants, 
that is, propagation. If no one looked after th(^ plant- 
ing of seeds and the raising of plants after the seeds 
sprouted many varieties would disappear entirely. 
Most plants die after a few years; and even those which, 
like the great trees of Calif(M-nia, live to be many 
hundred years old, will eventually die. The farmer 
makes it his business to see that, as the old plants 
(lie, n(nv ones are raised to take their place. The chief 
work of the farmer, indeed, is the propagation of 
plants. 

84. Quality of Seeds. — You know that the quality of 
seed affects the kind of plant that will result. The 
farmer can get a weak plant or a strong ))lant, few fruits 
or a generous crop, according to the (lualitit^s of the seed 
he plants. There are sevei-al factors which determine 
whether the seed will grow W(>11 — its age, its maturity, 
the vigor of the parent i)lant, and the conditions (moist- 
ure, air, and warmth) of the soil in which it is planted. 
Some seeds will not sprout owing to age or otlun- unfavor- 
able condition. Those that will sprout arc; said to be 
viable. 

85. Age of Seeds. — Melon seeds will grow when ten 
years old. Onion seeds frecjuently will not sprout if 
they are more than a year old. Starchy secnls, as rice 
and wheat, seem to remain vial)le longer than oily ones, 
as corn and sunflower, 

Th(» following table from Vilmorin's "Vegetable 
Garden " gives the average period of viability: 



no AN INTKODUCTIOX TO AdlUCULTUKE 



Duration of Germination Power 



Beans 

Bean, kidney 

Beet .' . 

Cabbage 

Carrot 

Cucumber. . . 

Let tuce 

Maize 

Melon 

Onion 

Parsley 

Pea..^ 

Squash 

Tomato 

Turnip 



AveraKB Years 


Extreme Years 


() 


10 


3 


s 


6 


10 


5 


10 


5 


10 


10 


10 


5 


10 


2 


7 


5 


10 


2 


7 


3 


9 


3 


S 





10 


4 


9 


5 


10 



86. Maturity of Seeds. — Another condition that 
affects the quahty of seed is the time when it is taken 
from the parent plant. If the seed is rijoe, or fully 
grown, we say that it is mature. Some seeds will not 
sprout, or germinate, if j)icked too soon. Other seeds 
will continue to ripen after leaving the plant, especially 
if a part of the plant is gathered with them. And there 
are some seeds, as the tomato, that will germinate if the 
fruit is but little more than half grown. 

It is thought that if immature seeds were used for 
several generations, it would result in reducing the vigor 
of the plants. Seeds should be kept in a dry place after 
being matured to prevent deterioration. 

87. Selecting Seeds. — By careful selection of seeds 
much better crops may be secured and plants may be 



PROPAGATION BY SEEDS 



111 




Two Eaks of Cokn, Showing Desikablk Qualities for Selection, 




Two UNDEalUAliLE Kaus. 



improved in many ways. Great improvement in corn, 
wheat, and other grains, as well as in many other kinds 
of i^lants, has been made and this is largely the result of 
seed selection. It is not sufficient to select the seed 



112 AN IXTRODUrTIOX TO AOKICULTURE 

after it has been harvested; useful selection reaches back 
to the growing crop. In brief, the selection of seed corn 
is as follows: The farmer or breeder gets clearly in mind 
his ideal. Eaily in the fall Ix'fon^ the time of harvesting 
he goes tln-ougli the field and selects the stalks of su- 
perior quality. In this selection he takes account of the 
general vigor of the stalks, width of blade, shank of ears, 
neither too long nor too short, ears at an average height 
from the ground, number of ears on stalk, strength of 
brace roots, size and regularity of the stalk. Then he 
closely insjjects these selected ])lants again, and chooses 
the ears that most nearly meet the ideal he has in mind. 
The corn from these ears is planted, the kernels from an 
car of one stalk in one row and those from an ear of 
another in anoth(M" row, and selections are again made 
just before the harv(>st. Seed is taken this time from 
those rows and ))lanis that show the ))est results in con- 
forming to the ideal. After several years of such selec- 
tion and planting a certain tyi)e will become fixed. 
Sometimes the corn from one ear is planted apart from 
others in a square patch instead of in a row, as there is 
then less danger of coi'n from differcMit types of ears 
mixing by the pollen blowing across. 

Sometimes it is desirable to change even the content 
• or composition of the seed corn. In this case analysis 
is made of the kernels from selected ears to determine 
the relative amounts of i)roteitl, oil, and starch, and 
selections made accordingly. By this means corn has 
been made to vary fi'om 2.62 j)er cent to G.9S per cent 
in its oil content, and from 0.98 ))er cent to 14.13 per 
cent in protein. Of course not all the good qualities 



p.- PEOPAGATION BY SEEDS 113 

can be readily obtained in one type. If earliness is 
sought size may be sacrificed, and if size is the main 
quality sought time of maturity may be sacrificed. So 
also, if great size is desired numbers may need to be 
sacrificed. Very expert work is required to produce the 
proper combination of good qualities; and even then the 
results may be disappointing. 

Select an car of corn from a stalk bearing two ears, and one 
from a stalk bearing one ear. Plant some kernels from each 
some distance apart, and mark the rows for identification. 
Note whether one kind jjroduces stalks with two cars each. 

Among the small grains it is well to select those that 
are able to resist drought and smut, those that are early, 
plump, and will yield abundantly. It wiU be no great 
trouble to sow these in a part of the grain field for several 
successive years, and a better lot of seeds may thus be 
obtained. The variety of wheat known as bald wheat 
was produced in this way by a thoughtful man who 
accidentally discovered three h(^ads of bald wheat in a 
fi(^ld of bearded wheat. This was the famous Fultz 
wheat, now one of the best varieties in either America or 
Europe. England produces nearly twice as much wheat 
to the acre as the United States, partly because of more 
careful sc^lection of s(>ed. 

The Burpee bush lima bean was developed from one 
hill of pole beans which had withstood a frost that killed 
all the rest of the beans in the field. This one hill pro- 
duced beans on a dwarf vine. These beans were planted, 
and seeds were selected from the smallest vines until the 
variety was established. 



114 AN INTKODUCTION To AdKICULTUUE 




SUGAK Hkki.s. I Ids pill" n'])r(s('ins icn inns oi .sugar hi'cts gruwii uu 
two fifths of an acre of land at the Experiment Station Farm at 
Madison, Wis. 




'rWENTV-TIIHEE 11 INDRED-POUNI) SACKS OK (.lUANlI.AI'KO Sl'liAK. 

This is the product of the ten tons of boots in the iiicturo above. 
The University received a chock for $44.32 fn)ni the Wisconsin 
Sugar Co. for this shipment. This is at the rate of $110.80 per acre. 



PROPAGATION BY SEEDS 115 

By selection of seeds of sugar beets, the amount of 
sugar contained has been increased from about seven 
per cent in the original beets to as high as twenty per 
cent in some types. The average in the best sugar-beet 
countries is about sixteen per cent. In order to make 
the selection in this case, a small part of the beet is cut 
out and analyzed to determine the amount of sugar. 
Seeds are then raised from the beets which show the 
most sugar. The small piece cut out of the beet does not 
injure it for producing seed. 




A CuxvENiENT Seed Tester for Farmers. 
Courtesy of Agricultural Experiment Station, Madison, Wis. 

88. Testing Seeds. — Careful farmers generally test 
seeds before planting. By taking a hundred seeds as 



IH) AN INTKODUCTION TO AdKICULTUKE 

samples and lettinii; thoin sprout in a seed tester tlie 
farmer can judge of the viability of the seeds he is about 
to plant. If a quarter of these sami)le seeds do not 
sprout, he knows what may be expectc^l of the whole. 
It is better to find this out before the seed is sown. 

A convenient form of tester is a tin ])ie ])latc with a 
flat cover, or two pie })lates ])ut together. Two pieces 
of cotton flannel, or similar doth, are cut the size and 
shajx* of the tester. These cloths are wrung out in warm 
water and one of them is placed in the bottom of the 
plate. One hundred seeds are counted and placed ui)on 
the wet cloth and are covered by the other cloth, which 
is ])resse(l down. This is then covered by the other 
plate and i)la('('(l in a warm i)ln('e. Two or three matches 
may be i)laced on top of the upper cloth to prevent mold. 
Th(^ cloths should be kept wet and the seeds examined 
from day to day. The number that sprout is the per- 
centage of good seeds; that is, if sixty seeds sprout in the 
lot s(>lect(Hl, we may consider that sixty per cent of the 
whole batch are good. 

Test some seeds by the method dos('ril)od in Sec. 88. If you 
take 50 seeds instead of 100, tlie per('entaf:;e is found l)v nuil- 
tiplying by 2 tlie number that sj)rout. \\'hy? 

89. Conditions Affecting Germination. — If the seeds 
are to sjjrout and grow well, there are several conditions 
which must be favorable, such as depth of planting, fine 
seed bed, moisture, air supply, temperature, and nature 
of seed case. 

The size of the seed determines to a large extent the 
depth of i)lanting. Small seeds that produce weak 



PROPAGATION BY SEEDS 117 

plantlets must be left near the surface of the ground. 
Many of the garden seeds should not be planted more 
than half an inch deep. Peas are sometimes planted 
several inches deep, so that they will not suffer from 
drought. 

In order that seeds may germinate they must be able 
to absorb moisture. They will do this better if the soil 
is compacted over them. The danger in this is that a 
crust is thus formed which the young plants must break 
through. The soil must not l)e too wet or the seeds may 
rot before they sprout. If the soil is too compact or too 
wet the air will be kept from the seed. This will hinder 
germination, because the seed must have ])lenty of air. 
In fields which are under water soon after planting, the 
seeds do not sprout. 

There is a certain temperature which is best for the 
sprouting of plants. If the soil is colder than this the 
seeds will not sprout, or will sprout but slowly. 

Some seeds, as nuts, have so hard a seed case that 
something must be done to help release the sprouting 
plant or it will not g(u-minate. These shells are often 
hand-cracked or allowed to break by freezing and thaw- 
ing before planting. 

SUMMARY 

All ])lants have flowers. — The most important parts of the 
flower, as regards plant reproduction, are the ovary and the 
pollen. — Pollen must fall on the stigma and penetrate through 
the ovary to the seed in order to make possible the growth of 
the seed. — The sprouting of the seed depends on its age and 
maturity, vigor of the parent plant, and the condition of the 
soil. 

9 



118 AN INTRODUCTION TO AGRICULTUKE 

Seeds should be carefully selected and tested. — They should 
be selected early, from the growing plant, not after harvesting. 
— Different seeds should be planted at different depths, accord- 
ing to the size and kind. 

QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 

1. Why are plants propagated? 

2. What is meant by seed selection? 

3. Why is selection necessary? 

4. What is the use of the pollen? 

5. How may bright colors of the flower or strong odors be 
useful to the flower? 

6. What are the conditions that affect germination? 

7. The annual wheat crop of the United States is about five 
hundred million bushels. If this could be increased 2 per 
cent by seed selection, what would the addition be worth at 
80 cents per bushel? 

8. How many agricultural experiment stations would the 
increase support, at half a million dollars a year for each station? 

9. If grass seed costs 10 cents a pound and is 20 per cent 
weed seed, what is the real cost of the grass seed? Would it be 
cheaper to buy a clean seed at 12 cents? 

10. If one day extra were spent by every farmer each year 
for five years in selecting and caring for seed corn, and the yield 
thereby increased 100 bushels, would it pay? 

1 1. It costs about $30 to grow an acre of sugar beets. What 
would be the profit per acre of beets grown under conditions 
similar to those in the illustrations on page 114? 



CHAPTER XI 

PROPAGATIOxN BY CUTTINGS AND OTHER MEANS 

90. Other Methods of Propagation. — In propagating 
by seeds we i)roduce new plants by putting into the 
ground parts of the parent plant specially ordained by 
nature for this purpose, without injury to the parent. 
Another method of pro])agation is by cutting off a part 
of the parent plant and letting that grow separately. 
These removed parts are spoken of as cuttings, and the 
process is known as propagation by means of cuttings. 
In other cases a part of the plant may take root and 
grow into a new plant without being entirely separated 
from the parent plant. This is done by bending down 
a branch and covering it with soil; it is called layering. 
In still other cases, plants may be propagated or estab- 
lished plants entirely changed in many of their char- 
acteristics by grafting and budding. 

91. Growth from Buds. — In these other methods of 
propagating plants the development of the new plant 
comes from buds instead of seeds. Every live stem or 
branch has buds along its side.T and one, at least, at the 
end. When the leaves fall the bud at the base of each 
leaf remains, and the next spring it opens into new leaves. 

With many kinds of plants, if a pieoe of the stem is 
119 



120 AN INTKODUCTION TO AGKICULTURE 

l^lantod in soil, roots will grow from the Imds and a new 
plant will be formed. Some plants, as the strawberry, 
send out from their main stems runners which (md in a 
strong bud. These buds take root and thus the original 
])lant makes many new ones. One parent may form 
thirty or forty young plants in the course of a season. 

92. Cuttings. — To propagate a plant by cuttings, we 
remove a part of the stem that has at least one good bud. 
This piece is put in water or moist earth. After its roots 
are well started, it may be carefully removed to the 
place where we want the plant to grow. 

Many plants are propagated by cuttings. A few, as 
the begonia, may be propagated from a leaf rooting 
either in water or in damp sand. But ])lants are more 
frequently developed from thrifty shoots. This is the 
common method with geranium, heliotrope, verbena, 
nasturtium and others. The shoots or cuttings are, 
divided so that there are two or more joints or nodes to 
each cutting, which is then buried in moist sand and 
kept warm by artificial heat if necessary. If there are 
leaves on the shoots they should be trimmed or removed 
to reduce the evaporating surface. When the roots are 
an inch or so long, the cuttings may be transplanted into 
small pots, and from there into larger ones as the roots 
fill the pots. Hard-wood cuttings, such as currant, 
gooseberry, grape, and flowering shrubs, are generally 
made in the fall and packed in green sawdust or damp 
sand. They may be started in the house by F(>bruary 
or March or lie until spring and be planted in well- 
prepared soil. Each cutting should have two or three 
nodes, and when planted one node should be above 



PROPAGATION BY LAYERING 121 

ground. Tliey are generally put into the ground in a 
slanting position and the soil firmly pressed about them. 
Potatoes, sweet potatoes, and sugar cane are nearly 
always propagated from cuttings. A potato 
is a swollen underground stem and when it 
is cut in pieces to plant we really use a 
l)iece of a stem or cutting. 

93. Layering. — 
In some plants 
buds may be made 
to root without be- 
ing cut from the 
plant. A slender 
branch or stem is 

Layering. 

bent down then 

covered with soil. 

From the buds in this part of the stem roots will grow. 

When they are well established the stem is cut off below 

the new roots and we have a new plant. 

Try the experiment of layering such bushes as gooseberry, 
raspberry, blackberry, and currant, and also grape vines. 

94. Grafting. — Grafting consists in setting into a 
tree a little twig from another tree, so that it becomes 
part of the new tree. The tree on which the grafting is 
done is called the stock, and the twig set into it is a 
scion. Grafting is done to secure a different kind of 
fruit on a tree, to preserve and multiply special varieties, 
to hast(ni flowering or fruiting of seedlings, to re[)lace 
lost branches, or to change the size or shape of a tree. 
All the fruit trees in America are grown either from buds 




122 AN iNTKODtJCTION TO AdUK^ULTUllE 

or grafts as they do not come true from seed. An 
apple tree bearing poor apples by successful grafting 
may be ina(l(> to bear a good variety. Healthy twigs 
from a tree bearing the desired fruit are made to grow 
into and become a part of the poor api)le tree. 

In the case of apple trees, for example, the scions are 
cut from a desirable tree in the fall and kept in a dry, 



•0 



\ 



d 



f 

ST»v0CTor 

GHAFiiNLi. a, .splice graft; 6, tongue graft, parts separate; f, tongue 
graft, parts united; d, waxed paper applied. 



cool jJace over winter. In the spring they are set into 
the stock where desired. A small branch, perhaps three 
quarters of an inch or larger in diameter, is sawed off 
and the stub split with a knife. The sfit)ns are whittled 
wedge-shaped and slipped into the cleft in the stock. 



PROPAGATION BY GRAFTING 



123 



In this way stock and scion are spliced. Just under the 
outer bark is a thin, soft layer called the cambium. It is 
the livins; and growing part. Care must be taken to have 
the cambium layer of the scion come in contact with 





^ Procl-or. 

Cleft Grafting, a, splitting the stock; b, scion prepared for inser- 
tion; c, scion inserted. 



the same layer of the stock. Tlie freshly cut parts are 
then covered \vith grafting wax to keep out air and 
moisture. Generally two scions are inserted into one 
cleft and after they are well started one of them may be 
cut away. 

Root grafting, as well as stem grafting just described, 
is a common practice. 

Get some scions from a p;ood apple tree and practice grafting. 
Make some grafting wax from the following formula: Melt 
one part beef tallow, two parts beeswax, four parts common 
rosin, all by weight. Pour into water, and when it is cool 
enough work with the hands as with molasses candy. The hands 
should be greased with lard or vasehne. Make up into rolls 
and cover with paraffined paper or lay on a piece of glass. When 



124 AN INTKODUCTION TO AGKICULTURE 

wanted, it may be placed in warm water to soften. For use in 
waxing cloth the beeswax may be omitted or one half more 
tallow used. 

95. The Necessity for Grafting. — It is necessary to 
pro{)agatc fruit ti-ees and some other plants by buckling 
and grafting rather than by seeds. The trees have not 
been raised from the seed enough generations to come 
" true." For example, if all the seeds of a Baldwin 
apple tree could be })lanted and come to mature trees, 
it is jiossible that one or more of the trees might yield 
lialdwin ai)iiles, but the great majority would produce 
fruit like their wild ancestor, or at least very unlike the 
Baldwin from which they came. This is also true be- 
cause trees have their blossoms fertilized by insects 
from other varieties of trees and this would tend to pro- 
duce mixed seeds. A far surer way, therefore, to get 
what is wanted is to graft from a good Baldwin apple 
tree. The trees which nurserymen sell are raised from 
seeds. When the one- or two-year-old seedling is about 
the size of a lead j^encil it is dug up and cut off near the 
root and a scion from the desired tree grafted into the 
root i^ut of the seedling. The root may be divided so 
that three or four stocks may be made from a single 
root. In some cases dozens of scions are grafted into a 
grown tree and when they are firmly established the 
other parts of the tree are cut away so that the entire 
tree is changed. 

Grafting is generally done in the spring just before 
growth starts. The scions are cut in the fall and kept 
in a cool cellar so that they will not start growing too 
early. It would not do to have the scions start to grow 



PKOPAGATION BY BUDDING 



125 



before the branch into which they are inserted is ready 
to provide sap for them. 

Root grafting is generally done in winter and the 
plants stored as directed for the scions. 

96. Budding. — The process of budding consists in 
inserting through the bark of a young tree a single bud 
cut from another tree. The 
desired bud is cut off with a ^' 
sharp knife and is inserted in 1" 
a T-shaped cleft made through 
the bark. The wound is then 
covered with strips of cloth 
which have been saturated 
with melted grafting wax. 

In budding and grafting 
it is necessary that the stocks 
and the trees from which the 
buds or scions are removed 
be closely related. For ex- 
ample, an apple and a crab- 
apple can be grafted on each 
other, but not a peach on an apple. Ordinarily graft- 
ing is preferred for certain kinds of fruit and budding 
for certain other kinds. Apples and pears are grafted. 
Peaches, plums, cherries and apples are budded. All 
that part of the tree above the bud or graft par- 
takes of the nature of the tree from which the scion 
was cut. 




Budding. 



120 AN INTKUDUCTION TO AUKICULTUKE 

SUMMARY 

Pro5)afj;ation may be act'omi)lished by means of cuttin{!js, 
layering, grafting, and budding, as well as by seeds. — In these 
methods the new plants grow from buds instead of from seeds. — 
Fruit trees must be propagated by grafting and budding because 
they do not "come true" from seeds. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What two general methods of propagating plants are 
there? Why? 

2. In grafting, why must the cambium layers of the scion 
and the stock come in contact with one another? 

3- How are carnations, roses, geraniums, and begonias prop- 
agated? 

4. Which is the sure method of propagating fruit trees, from 
seeds or from grafts? Why? 

5. What advantage will a young potato plant j)ropagated 
from a piece of potato have over a |)lant grown from the seed? 

6. Why is the spring a good tiinc in wliich to do grafting? 
7- Why might a rainy time when trees are in blossom prevent 

a good crop of fruit? 

8. Why is layering a more sure method of propagating than 
by a detached cutting? 

9. Why is the spring the best time for grafting? 

10. Why is it best to remove some of the leaves from a cutting 
or scion? 



CHAPTER XII 

THE FARM GARDEN 

97. The Importance of the Farm Garden. — In the 
farm garden can be raised, with Httle outlay, a great 
variety of good, healthful food for the farmer and his 
family. Many farmers have thought they were too busy 
to attend to a vegetable garden. Many city folks in 
much poorer circumstances than the average farmer 
have had a greater variety of fresh vegetables and fruits 
on their tables than he. But farmers are coming to 
realize that it is a good investment to set a good table; 
that it is very important for the health of the family, 
and especially of the younger members, to have a gener- 
ous and varied diet, and so of late years the garden has 
come more and more to be considered an indispensable 
feature of the farm. 

98. Position and Soil for the Garden. — The garden 
should be in a warm, sunny place, sloping to the south 
if possible, so that the plants may grow rapidly. Most 
garden crops are better if they make a rapid growth. 
The best soil for the garden is a light sandy loam (Sec. 
8). By pro])er treatment and cultivation almost any 
soil can be made suitable. The soil should be enriched 
with well-rotted manure. 

127 



128 AN INTKODUCTIOX TO AGKICULTUKE 

The garden should not be laid out in square beds or 
little patches as was formerly the i)ractice, unless it is to 
be taken care of by a gardener. It should be long and 
narrow, or at least of such shape that things may be 
planted in long rows and easily cultivated. With this 
arrangement the garden can be cultivated by a hand 
wheel cultivator or by a plow or other implement drawn 
l)y a hoi-se. Horse cultivation in the garden pays, and 
if it is to be practiced, the nearest rows should be 
twenty-four to thirty-six inches apart. The spacing of 
rows may vary from thirty inches for small stuff to 
four feet for melons and eight feet for blackberries. 

99. The Care of the Garden. — One difficulty in the 
wa}^ of having a good garden on the farm is that it must 
be attended to in the early spring when the farmer is 
straining every energy to get the main crops started. 
But the garden is a place where every member of the 
family can help, and it requires comparatively little labor 
and time. The soil should be thoroughly tilled in the 
spring and enriched if need be and a good seed-bed pre- 
pared, as we have already learned (Sec. 23). Weeds 
must be kept out by frequent use of the hoe or cultiva- 
tor, ojierations which will also serve to keep air and 
moisture in the soil (Sec. 22). 

100. Desirable Plants for the Garden. — The aim in 
choosing plants for the garden should be to have such a 
variety that there will be a constant supply for the 
table from early in summer until late in the fall. It is 
possible sometimes to plant early vegetables and later 
ones in alternate rows. The early ones will be out of 
the way before the late ones need ground to spread over. 



THE FARM GARDEN 129 

In this way, if there is need to economize space, radishes 
might alternate with parsnips and be out of the way 
before the parsnips are very large. 

A garden should be arranged so that it may be easily 
cultivated. Everything should be planted in rows; 
and if the garden is large and a horse is to be used, the 
closest rows should be from twenty-four to thirty-six 
inches apart. The distance between rows should vary 
from thirty inches for small stuff to four feet for melons 
and eight feet for blackberries. 

Among the earliest plants that a garden will yield 
are lettuce and radishes. Lettuce seed sprouts very 
easily and quickly. It may be planted in rows twelve 
inches or eighteen inches apart. The seeds should be 
covered half an inch deep and the young plants thinned 
out so that they will be one or two inches apart. For 
head lettuce the plants should not be left nearer together 
than about eight inches. Radishes are generallj'' planted 
in double rows six inches apart and eighteen inches from 
the next double row of plants. 

Beets for early greens may be planted in rows twelve 
inches apart, but if the roots are wanted the rows should 
be eighteen inches apart. The seeds should be covered 
about an inch, and the soil pressed firmly over them. 
The plants should be thinned out to three inches apart if 
raised for the tops, and six to ten inches apart for early 
and late roots. 

Peas are planted several times in a season. Small 
varieties that do not need bushing may be planted in 
double rows, twelve inches apart and thirty inches from 
the next double row of plants. ''Champions" and 



130 AN INTKODUCTION TO AGKICULTURE 

other large biuslied peas should be in rows three feet 
apart. Peas should be planted deep, even as much as 
four inches. 

Sweet corn should be ])lanted at intervals of two 
WTeks up to the middle of July. In this way it is pos- 
sible to have table corn during a period of six weeks or 
more. The rows may be thirty or thirty-six inches 
apart. Some persons jjlant in hills about the same dis- 
tance apart each way, and otheis in drills, the plants 
eight or ten inches apart in the row. 

Bush lima beans and string beans are planted in 
rows eighteen inches apart, and the plants should be 
thinned so that there are three or more inches between 
them. Pole beans are a good crop where poles can be 
obtained. 

Cucumbers and squashes are planted in hills, about 
three or four plants occupying an area five feet square. 
The hill should be dug out and several forkfuls of manure 
should be put in the bottom and then covered with soil. 
Cucumbers enough for a small family may be raised in 
the following way: Dig a hole deep enough to bury a 
barrel; fill the barrel with horse manure; cover it about 
six inches deep with fine soil, and plant. Allow a half 
dozen or more plants to grow. Leave the center of the 
hill open for the purpose of pouring in water. The 
manure must be kept saturated all summer. A circle 
ten feet in diameter \\\\\ hv needed for the vines. 

Tomatoes are set out in rows al)out five feet apart 
and should be kept well cultivated. 

Carrots, parsnijis, and celery ma}' easily be grown in 
the garden if desired. Celery for early use is planted in 



THE FARM GARDEN 131 

the house and set out in trenches in midsummer. Later 
it is banked up with boards and earth to bleach it. For 
a late crop, it may be started out of doors. 

Asparagus is a perennial and must be set out where 
it will be undisturbed. It takes several years to get a 
good asparagus bed, but afterwards the plant gives very 
little trouble. Salt is used as a fertilizer for it-. One 
should cease cutting the asparagus when the stalks come 
up as small as a lead pencil. 

Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, currants, and 
gooseberries are grown from plants which are generally 
bought of nursery men. In setting out a strawberry 
bed, more than one kind of plant should be chosen in 
order to secure good results. On some varieties of straw- 
berries the blossoms have no stamens. These plants 
will not produce fruit unless strawberry plants having 
perfect blossoms are growing within a few feet (Sec. 80). 
The strawberry plants are easily taken care of and mul- 
tiply rapidly. They bear fruit the next season after 
they are planted. The other berries mentioned are 
hardy plants and are valuable additions to the farm 
garden. 

The best experiment on this subject is to make and care 
for a garden. If it is your first attempt, do not try to raise 
many things. A half dozen things well cared for are enough. 
Lettuce, radishes, beets, peas, corn, cucumbers, make a good 
list to start with. 

SUMMARY 

The garden is important because it furnishes the farmer a 
variety of food at little cost. — The farmer sliould see that the 
soil is right and should enrich and till it thoroughly. — The depth 



132 AN INTRODUCTION TO AGRICULTURE 

of planting; the seeds, distance between the rows, and the thin- 
ning out of the young jilants should have careful attention. — 
The garden should be started early and ]danted with such crops 
as will yield a constant supply all through the summer, — 
Vegetables should be planted in rows, not in jjatches, for ease 
in cultivation. 



CHAPTER XIII 

FARM CROPS 

loi. Hay and Grass Crop. — Probably the most im- 
portant crop, and certainly the one occupying the largest 
area in the United States, is the hay and grass crop. 
Although a very great number and variety of grasses 
are grown throughout the country, the principal ones 
used for hay are timothy, orchard grass, red top, and 
June grass. In addition to these may be mentioned 
alfalfa and the clovers. No farm crop requires more 
ireful judgment on the part of the farmer. 
This judgment relates to the kind of soil suitable, the 
kind of grass best adapted to his use, the proper fer- 
tilizers, the best time to harvest and the proper curing 
and storing. Scarcely any other crop is so liable to in- 
jury in harvesting as the hay crop. Some varieties of 
grass require a heavy, moist soil, while others will do well 
on a soil that is dry. If th(; hay is to be fed to horses it 
should be coarse like timothy and many would say, free 
from red clover. Cattle may be fed finer hay and clover. 
The kind of grass will also determine the kind of fer- 
tilizer to be used. Land fertilized heavily with barn- 
yard manure will produce a good crop of timothy, while, 
if clover is desired also, it is a good plan to substitute 
10 133 



134 AX INTKODUCTIOX TO AdKlcrLTUlJE 

muriate of ])otash for some of the l^arnyard manure. 
The time to harvest hay depends iqion the kind and the 
use to which it is to be put. Timothy should be allowed 
to mature, while some others are cut before maturity- 
While the temi)tation is to dry the cut grass quickly by 
constant stirring and exposure to the sun, the best author- 
ities now advocate slower drying with sufficient exposure 
to the air to jirevent fermentation. Such hay will be 
found to be less tough, of better flavor, and more nu- 
tritious. Haying is now done mostly w'lih the aid of 
machines, the four principal ones being the mower, the 
tedder, the rake or the loader, and the horse fork. The 
tedder is not so much used as formerly, at least in some 
sections. 

102. Alfalfa. — This forage crop has increased very 
rapidly in popularity diu'ing the past ten years. It is 
a deep-feeding plant. The roots often go'into the soil 
ten or twenty feet, and sometimes even deeper. It will \ 
not do well where the subsoil is heavy and not well 
di'ained. Alfalfa is a good hay crop, but it may be used 
for pasture also. It should be cut for hay when it first 
begins to bloom. Care is necessary in handling it when 
dry that the leaves are not broken off, as they contain 
the most nourishment for the stock. Three to six cut- 
tings of alfalfa may be made in a single season after the 
plants have become firmh^ estal)lished. It usually takes 
about three years for the plants to develop their root 
system fully. Then the field may be mowed for many 
years if a little fertilizer containing calcium, potassium, 
and phosphorus is added. The alfalfa will be able to suj)- 
ply its own nitrogen, as explained in the previous cha])tcr. 



FAKM CROrS 135 

103. Clovers. — In Chapter VI the clovers were con- 
sidered with regard to their effect on the soil. Clovers 
make excellent forage for stock and are so used in all 
parts of the country. Clover hay requires careful dry- 
ing or it will not keep well. Red clover is most com- 
monly raised in the North. Timothy or other grass seed 
is usually sown with it. It is best cut before many of 
the blossoms turn brown, because the leaves will fall if 
it is too ripe. Crimson clover seems to thrive better in 
the South, and may be sown in the fall and used as a 
cover crop. If sown in the spring it will mature late in 
the summer. Crimson clover does not seem to do so 
well in the North, as the winters are too cold. White 
clover is used with grass seed for pastures. 

104. Corn. — Corn is the second crop in importance in 
the United States. It was found in America when the 
first explorers came. It was then known nowhere else, 
but now it is raised in all parts of the world where it will 
grow. It requires much sunshine and warm weather 
and is therefore grown in temperate and subtropical 
countries. It is used for feeding stock, for human food, 
and for making starch and whisky. Among the types 
of corn may be mentioned flint, dent, pop corn, and 
sweet corn. 

Corn requires a light, rich soil and does not do well 
on a heavy soil. There should be much humus })resent. 
If planted on sod, the ground may be plowed in the fall 
and thoroughly cultivated. This is not good practice 
in the South, however, because of the heavy winter 
rains. Corn is planted in hills three to four feet apart 
or in drills three feet apart. The plants in drills should 



136 AX IXTKUDUCTION TO AfUUCULTUKE 

be eight or ten inches apart. The seeds should not l^e 
sown until the ground is warm and danger of frost is 
over. 

Just before the ]ilants come up, the ground may be 
harrowed with a hght, fine-toothed harrow to break up 
the crust so that the i)lants may more easily push 
through. This also kills weeds. The ground is some- 
times dragged with a light harrow even after the plants 
are up, care being taken to hit as few plants as possible. 
The field should be cultivated as often as necessary in 
order that the weeds may not get a start, and to yive- 
serve a surface mulch. This should be done as soon as 
possible after each rain. 

When raised in large quantities, corn is now planted 
and harvested by machines. Some seeders are so ar- 




Vertical Corn Harvestkk. 



ranged that they plant the corn in hills equally spaced 
so that the field may be cultivated both ways. More 



FARM CROPS 



137 



often the corn is drilled in. The harvesters cut the corn 
and bind it in bundles to be picked up and stacked by 
hand. 

In many places the corn, stalks and all, is cut up 
and packed in silos as green fodder to be fed to the 
cattle through the winter. Sometimes the ears are 
picked of! and only the stalks cut up for the silo. A silo 
is a large, air-tight pit or room where the material keeps 
moist and fresh. Corn, or other forage crops, put up 
in this way is called ensilage. 




Map Showing Proditctionj of Wheat in the United States. 



105. Wheat and Other Grains. — "Wheat ranks next 
to corn in importance. Oats and barley, though follow- 
ing cotton in the value of the crop, may properly be dis- 
cussed with wheat. There are several varieties of wheat, 



138 AN INTRODUCTION TO AOKKniLTURE 



as spring wheat and winter wheat, white, red, hard, and 
soft varieties, and bearded and bald varieties. Tlie 
territory for raising wheat in tlie United States is shown 
on the accompanying map. 

The ground for wheat, oats, and barley should be 
rich and mellow, but it need not be as light as for corn. 
Experiment and farmers' experience show that the yield 
of wheat is determined chiefly by the supply of nitrogen 



^ 


i^M 


.J. 




^^p 




HHi^VCBS^ylaFSi^ X 


M 1^ 


^^^^ 




i^^l^^l 


mm 


m. . 


wmmssimm 


lfCT»a»?Wtft^MK^TWM 


^-^..--.-.-.^. 



Wheat IIauvestixg Machine. (Horse ikuvit.) 

in the soil or in the fertilizer used. With barley niti'ogen 
is also essential, but phosj)horic acid has an e(iua]ly 
marked effect. Wheat has a long growing season and 
therefore has an opportunity to get ])lenty of food. 
These three grains should all be planted near the surface 
of the ground. It is their habit to "stool" or send out 
a bunch of roots from a joint just below the surface, and 
later the i^art of the root below tliat ]ioint dies. If the 




A 50-Honsi;-i'( iw i:u Comuixi:!) Si'i:i:i> Harvesting Machine and 
Thresher. (Steam power.) Front view, showing the wheat 
being cnt. 




^*:\.'-it.;;iM«s>fr: o,.y^'*. 



?!J0- -'■-.' .■■,> • -SV,' 



-■I 



C'OMBINEO ilAHVKSIl.H M >, ( I I I \ I . >iilr \it\\. Ilir lli:n-llini' CUtS thc 

wheat, threshes it, and dehvers it ready sacked in one continuous 
operation. 

139 



140 AN INTKODUCTTON TO ACHUCULTURE 



plant must f(jrce its way up very far before it stools, it 
is weakened; hence the necessity for planting near the 
surface. 

Certain experiments have shown that it pays to har- 
row these grains when a few inches high, for while a 
few plants may be destroyed, the vigor of the others is 

increased. Weeds are 
thus kept down and 
moisture is held in the 
soil. 

As oats are likely 
to shell, they are gen- 
erally cut before they 
are ripe and while the 
straw is green. Bar- 
ley that is to be used 
in making beer must 
]3e fully ripe before it 
is cut. Wheat is gen- 
erally allowed to ripen 
before cutting. The 
quality is better, how- 
ExpouT WiiKAT i.N luus. Two iiuudiud evcr, If it is cut a little 

and fifty thousand bushels of wheat , ^ ... • , 

at Portland, Ore., in bags ready for ^eforC it IS ril)e, wlieU 

shipment. Wheat is exported in bulk the thumb nail Will iu- 

(loose) from Atlantic, and in bags from i , i , , i .1 

Pacific, ports. dent but not crush the 

kernel. 
There is always a market for wheat and it brings a 
good price. Oats and barley mature earlier than wheat 
and give back to the farmer the money invested in a 
shorter time. 




FARM CROPS 141 

1 06. Field Peas. — Many farmers are finding it to 
their advantage to raise crops of field ])eas. The pro- 
duction is large and the crop a most valuable one. It 
is fed either as a green crop or cured. As the peas need 
a support they are generally sown with some other crop, 
as oats. Peas do best upon a heavy moist loam and 
grow best in cool climates. They are planted in drills 
or broadcast and should be covered deeply, with a disk 
harrow. Several days later the oats are sown and cov- 
ered with a fine-toothed drag, after which the ground 
may be rolled. 

107. Potatoes. — The United States produces annually 
two hundred million bushels of potatoes. The yield 
may possibly be doubled before long, because of the in- 
creasing use of denatured alcohol, in the manufacture 
of which potatoes, as well as corn, are largely used. 

Potatoes are raised from seed pieces or cuttings, 
that is, sections of a potato containing one or more eyes. 
The eyes are really buds, for the potato tuber, as it is 
called, is really an enlarged and specially developed 
stem, and not a real root. 

The soil for potatoes should be rich and deep and 
the seed pieces should be planted deep. Above the 
seed there must be room for the growth of the new po- 
tatoes. Cultivation of the soil should be kept up until 
just before the plants cover the ground. 

Potatoes are subject to scab (Sec. 72). This disease 
may be prevented by soaking in formalin mixtures the 
potatoes to be used as seed. Often the plants must be 
sprayed to prevent blight. Exi)eriments on farms in 
Wisconsin in 1905 showed that the average cost of spray- 



142 AN INTKODIJCTION TO A(JKirrLTrKE 

ing five times was $3.65 \)vv acre, and the gain in value 
of tiae crop of potatoes varied from $19 to $38 per acre. 
These experiments were tried on six- to ten-acre areas. 




I'OTATI) .Sl'UAVI.M. l..\lLlilMENTS. 

The gain due to spraying was 233 bushels per acre. 
From Ifaiwood's "The New Earth," by courtesy of The Maciiiillaii Coniii.any. 

The si)raycd plots were each one acre and the "check" 
plots, not sprayed, were one half acre. This made the 
experiment extensive enough to be convincing. 

Raise potatoes and spray some with Bordeaux mixture and 
leave some unsprayed. Notice the clitTerence in results. 

io8. Root Crops. — Under (he hcatl of root crops — 
that is, plants whose roots are usetl for food — we may 
mention beets, sugar beets, carrots, and turnii)s. Much 



FARM CROPS 143 

attention is now being given to raising sugar beets. In 
the neighborhood of a beet-sugar factory they are es- 
pecially profitable, because they are raised on contract, 
and the farmer knows beforehand the price at which he 
is to sell his crop. For this crop the ground should be 
plowed and manured in the fall, and then plowed again 
and harrowed in the spring. The soil must be deep, so 
that the plants will not be pushed up out of the ground 
as the roots grow, for the part above ground is waste. 
Commercial fertilizers containing much potash are often 
used. They should be put on in the fall so that they 
may be washed into the lower part of the soil. The 
seed is sown by machine in rows eighteen inches apart. 
When the plants are up so that they show in the row, 
they are thinned with a hoe. A few days later they are 
thinned by hand so that the plants will be ten inches 
apart. 

Carrots are grown largely for feeding to stock, al- 
though young carrots are much used for human food, 
especially in cities. They require an exceedingly mellow 
soil, sandy preferred, and must be kept free from weeds. 
They should be planted rather early for the early crop 
and as late as the middle of June for a late crop, after 
the weeds have been killed by harrowing (Sec. 25). 

Turnips are often sown broadcast as a "catch " crop 
— one sown between the periods of other crops — after 
early peas or potatoes. They are used somewhat as a 
table food, but mostly for stock. 

109. Cotton. — Cotton is of so much importance in the 
Southern States that it has ^^■on the name King Cotton. 
Although a tropical plant, it thrives in the temi)erate 



144 AN INTKODrCTIOX TO AGKICULTURE 



zone. For its best production it should have a " climate 
with six months' freedom from frost, a moderate well- 
distributed rainfall during the plant's growing season, 
and a])undaiit sunshine and little rain durinp; its ma- 
turing period." The value of the cotton plant I'csides in 
the long fiber attachetl to the seeds. 

There are two varieties of the ])lant important in the 
United States — the short-stapled upland variety, com- 
monly grown in the 
Southern States, and 
the long-stai)led va- 
riety called Sea-Island 
cotton, grown on is- 
lands off the coast 
and in some parts of 
Georgia, South Caro- 
lina, and Florida. The 
long - stapled variety 
commands the better 
price. Some progress 
has been made by seed 
selection, cultivation, 
and hybridizing in 

Cotton Plant, n, flowering branch; b, imj^roviug the quality 
fruit (boll) bursting; c, seed with (-,f ^j^g short - Stapled 
fibers (lint). After Wossidlo. 

variety. The cotton 
plant requires a rich loam soil well cultivated and deep, 
as the plant has a long tap root. As it makes very 
heavy drains on the soil, wherever it is raised there 
should be kei)t enough stock to consume the seeds and 
return the fertilizer to the land. Peas, beans, clover, 




FARM CKOPS 



145 



and peanuts may bo raised as a further benefit to the 
land as well as for additional fodder. 




Copyright by UudcrwooU & UuJerwuoa, N. Y. 

Cotton Field. 



1 10. Sugar Cane. — Sugar cane was originally a wild 
plant that had two to four per cent of sugar, but it has 
been improved until now there is as high as sixteen per 
cent. In Louisiana the average amount of sugar in 
the plant is about eleven per cent. 



146 AX INTKODTCTIUX TO A(i KlCl'LTUltE 

Sufz;ar cano is raised from cuttings of tlio old stalks. 
Trenches arc plowed and the stalks arc covered. The 
land must be tilled and kept free from weeds. The land 
is planted every second or third year in the United States, 
but in tropical countries plants will spring up from 
the stubble for ten years. 

111. Rice. — Rice is one of the most important foods 
of the human race. Although several states are adaptenl 
to its culture, we import more into the United States 
than we raise. There are many varieties of rice, but for 
practical purposes we may consider two kinds, upland and 
lowland. Upland rice is treated about the same as the 
other small grains, but lowland rice is raised only on land 
that can be flooded. Most of the rice grown in America 
is produced on the rich lowlands along streams, marshes, 
or level lands ca])able of irrigation. Not enough atten- 
tion is given to the raising of rice in this country. 

112. Tobacco. — In some parts of the United States 
the raising of tobacco is an imj^jortant industry. The 
United States raises more than twice as much tobacco 
as any other country in the world. There are several 
important varieties, which vary considerably in their 
cultural requirements. 

Tobacco plants require a light, rich soil for their 
grow^th. In the preparation of the soil it is customary 
to ])low the land in the autumn to secure the l)enefit of 
winter weathering. In the si)ring the fertilizers are 
added and the land is again plowed, harrowed, and laid 
out in ridges about three to four feet apart. The seed 
is sown early in a specially j^rejiared bed, which is usually 
in a sheltered jjlace where the young plants can be pro- 



FARM CliOPS 



147 




tected. Sometimes the entire bed is covered with glass 
or cheesecloth. When the young plants are three or 
four inches high they 
are transplanted to the 
ridges in the field, and 
set twelve to twenty- 
four inches apart on the 
ridges, depending on 
the variety. This was 
formerly done entirely 
])y hand, but now trans- 
planting machines are 
generally used. A ma- 
chine drawn by horses 
makes the hole in the 
ground and sets the 
plant, which is put in 

position by a man on the machine, and then presses 
the earth around the roots. By the use of such a ma- 
chine two men can plant three to six acres per day. 

During the growth of the plants the soil is constantly 
kept in good tilth by the use of cultivators and hoes. 
^^'hen the flower buds appear the stem is broken off 
about three feet from the ground, to keej) all the strength 
of the ]:)lants for the growth of the leaves. This process 
is called "topping." Following this the young shoots, 
called suckers, which grow in the axils of the leaves, are 
also broken off. 

As the leaves ripen there are two methods of harvest- 
ing. In the one case they are broken from the plant and 
hung in a shed to cure. In the other method the entire 



Tobacco Plant. 



148 AN INTRODUCTION TO AGRICULTURE 



plant is cut down and hung in a sIuhI when some of tlie 
leaves are just ripe and others are still green. By this 
method the leaves do not all ruro alike, as they do when 




Tobacco Field. 

all are allowed to ripen on the plant before they are 
gathered, but it involves less work and is in rather 
general use. 

The separate leaves, or the stalk and leaves, which 
were hung in the sheds are allowed to dry and at the same 
time undergo a change called "curing." The value of 
the leaf depends to a considerable extent on the satis- 
factory completion of this "curing." The sheds are 
constructed so as to regidate the sujiply of air currents, 
moisture, and heat, ^\'hen the leaves are cured they are 
taken down and if still on the stalks, are stripped off and 



FARM CROPS 149 

placed in bundles to undergo a further change known as 
"fermentation." The aroma from the cigar depends to 
a large extent on this "fermentation." 

The tobacco is now ready to be manufactured into 
cigars, or smoking or chewing tobacco. Most farmers 
sell their tobacco after it has been cured in the sheds and 
before the process of fermentation has been accomplished. 
The latter process is then completed by the tobacco 
buyers, who have special facilities for regulating the 
process which the farmer does not possess. 

SUMMARY 

Forage crops, such as grasses, clovers, and alfalfa, are im- 
portant farm crops as they are the principal feed for stock. 

Corn is a very valuable crop both for human and for animal 
food. 

Wheat is a slow maturing crop, while oats and especially 
barlev return the money invested in a short time. 

Tobacco needs an especially rich soil and requires great care 
in its raising and curing. 

Most farm crops, except hay and small grain crops, require 
cultivation, which keeps the soil in good condition and free from 
weeds. 

QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 

1. Is it good farming to jiick the ears of corn and leave the 
stalks to be plowed in? Why? 

2. Would you burn the straw stack after the grain is threshed? 
Why? 

3. What would you do with the straw? 

4. It cost $113 to spray 30 acres of potatoes five times. 
The average yield of sprayed potatoes was 240 bushels to the 
acre. The average yield of unsprayed acres was 1 50 bushels. At 
40 cents per bushel, what was the gain for the thirty acres? 

11 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE ORCHARD 

113. Apples. — One of the most important crops that 
the fui-mer can raise is apples. Hardly any oth(>r fruit 
is so widely enjoyed or so useful. An apple has two 
thirds as much nutriment as a potato of the same weight. 
For eating out of hand it is always in demand, Wh(>n 
cooked in the form of sauce, pies, dumplings, baked or 
any other form, it is of sui)erior excellence. The juice, 
when sweet, furnishes a fine beverage, and when sour 
and fermented, produces a vinegar that has no rival. 
By a proper selection of varieties, a supply of apples may 
be had the year round. 

The apple tree is started from the seed. As it will 
not come "true" (Sec. 94), at the end of the first or 
second season a scion of the desired variety is grafted on 
the seedling roots (Sec. 94). For this purpose the seed- 
ling is taken up, and the scions and seedling should be 
kept in a cellar in moist sand. In the sj^ring it is planted 
again, and after one or two seasons of growi^h it is ready 
for the market. 

A clay loam soil (Sec. 8) seems best adapted to rais- 
ing apple trees. Generally, the land should have an 
eastern or northeastern slope, to lessen the danger from 

150 



THE OKCHAKD 



151 



sun scald in long summers. The soil should be in good 
condition, well tilled, and with a natural drainage, be- 
cause apple trees will not endure a water-logged soil. 
The trees should be set twenty-five to forty feet apart 
each way. 

In general, the land between the trees should not 
have crops grown on it, although this will vary with 
the particular circumstances sometimes. Clover may 
be grown and left on the ground as a mulch. This will 




Picking and Pacicinc Apples. 



provide nitrogen (Sec. 41) and jirotect the ground from 
the heat of summer and the cold of winter. If necessary, 
fertilizers should be used, consisting of barnyard manure 
or wood ashes. Four hundred to six hundred pounds to 
the acre of wood ashes is a suitable aj^plication. 



152 AN INTKODUITION TO ACIKK^ULTURE 

Aiiyono intending to raise apjiles should first find out 
from his neighbors what varieties have proved successful 
in his locality. It is not well to invest too heavily in 
untried varieties. The safest varieties, where they will 
grow, are the standards, such as the Baldwin, Greening, 
Winesap, Oldenburg, Red Astrachan, and Northern Spy. 

Apple trees should be pruned to produce large fruit 
and to facilitate picking, among other things. The trees 
must be sprayed at the proper time to prevent the rav- 
ages of insects and diseases. It is a waste of time and 
money to raise inferior apjiles. 

The picking must be done by hand, and care must be 
taken not to loosen the stem from the apple. The 
apples should be carefully packed in barrels or crates, 
and should be slightly shaken together and c()nii)acted, to 
keep them from rattling around and bruising each other. 

114. Pears. — Pears are a much esteemed fruit, and 
great quantities are sold in the markets for immediate 
consumption and for preserving. 

Pears are propagated by budding or grafting (Chapter 
XI) upon the seedlings. A go.od soil is required. The 
trees may be set closer than apple trees. It is best in 
setting out a pear orchard to use more than one kind, 
as the trees may not bear well unless their blossoms are 
fertilized by pollen from a different variety (Sec. 81). 
Pear trees do not require so much pruning as apple trees, 
their habit being to branch very much less, ^^'hat was 
said about care in picking and handling apples applies 
with even more force to pears. They are often wrapped 
separately in paper and packed in crates only one or 
two layers deep. 



THE ORCHARD 153 

Pear trees are subject to many ills, among them 
blight and tree girdlers. The blight is caused by a 
fungus which causes the ends of the tmgs to die. The 
pear-tree girdler lays her eggs in the twigs and then 
girdles the twig, with the result that the young have 
dead wood in which to develop. For both of these, the 
dead twigs should be removed and burned. In case of 
blight, the branches should be cut off a foot below the 
affected part. 

115. Peaches. — The peach is another favorite fruit 
for eating either raw or cooked. It stands among the 
first for canning purposes. New Jersey, Michigan, 
Georgia, and California are great peach-growing states, 
but in many other states the fruit grows well. 

Peaches are propagated by budding, which is done 
in the fall. The bud should be set on the north side, 
so that it will not get too much sunlight. As soon as 
the bud shows life the next spring, the stock is cut off a 
few inches above it. All other buds should then be 
rubbed off and not allowed to grow. As soon as the bud 
has made a good growth, the old part of the tree should 
be cut off close above it so that the cut may heal over 
before winter. In the following February the new 
shoot must be pruned back. Pruning must be done 
every year in order that the tree may have symmetrical 
develoi)ment and the proper number of branches be 
allowed to grow. 

The first year the tree bears it should be allowed to 
bear not more than three or four peaches, and the next 
year not more than a peck. A tree properly treated will 
bear five to ten bushels for twenty years. 



154 AN INTRODUCTION TO AGTUOULTURE 

ii6. Cherries and Grapes. — Cherries and grapes are 
raised with as httle trouble as any fruits antl are always 
desirable. Grapes should be sprayed with Bordeaux 
mixture as the buds lireak, to pi-event rot and mildew. 
Some i)crsons spray cherries with kerosene emulsion just 
as the blossoms fall as a safeguard against the moth that 
would otherwise lay its eggs in the ovary of the cherry 
blossom. Cherries and grapes always find a ready mar- 
ket, and if they are of good varieties and have been care- 
fully picked, they bring a good price. 

117. Marketing Fruit. — A fruit well raised is half 
sold; but if fruit is raised for the market, as much judg- 
ment may be needed in marketing as in raising. There 
will always be more than one grade of fruit, and each 
grade should be sold for just what it really is. There is 
generally a demand for second-grade fruit, but not at 
first-grade prices. 

Fall fruits and those which i^erish easily should ho dis- 
posed of as soon as possible. It is better to sell for a 
small profit than to risk losing the whole. • The fruit 
raiser should know the condition of crops in all parts of 
the country, so that he may l)e able to judge whether it is 
best to hold his crop for a higher price. lie must also 
decide whether it is better to sell at once at a small price 
than to get a large price later, after part of his fruit has 
s])oiled and he has had the expense of sorting it. 

118. Transplanting and Pruning. — In transplanting 
trees, choose the time when the leaves are off and the 
ground is moist. Dig the tree carefully so as not to 
cut off many of the small terminal rootlets, or to let 
the roots get dry by exposure to the air. In any soil 



How TO Plant a Thke 




1. Dif^ tliL' hole twice as lurgc us 
seems necessary and fill in the bot- 
tom with fine rich soil. 



2. Pack the soil iirnily about 
the roots, taking care to spread 
thorn. 




3. After the routs are carol'uily 4. After the tree is planted 

covered press the earth down as mulch it with loo.se earth so that 
tlie hole is filled. the moisture may soak in. 

155 



156 AN INTKUDUi TlUN TU AUiaCLLTUKE 

dig the hole twice as large as seems necessary, and fill 
the bottom with fine rich soil. Pack the soil firmly 
about the roots, taking care to spread them and not to 
double them back. Be sure that the roots are not only 
set in good fine soil, but that there is plenty of loose soil 
for them to grow into. One person should hold the 
tree and another should get dow'n and with his hands 
work the soil all about the roots. 

After the tree is placed and the soil re})laced, mulch 
it with six inches of leaves or loose manure. Do not 
have sod anywhere above the roots of a newly set tree. 
Drive in two stout stakes and fasten the young tree, 
being careful not to compress or injure the bark. Finally, 
prune back the top as much as the roots were pruned in 
taking up the tree. Remember that the roots must 
never become dry while being transplanted. In some 
localities it may be necessary to keej) the tree watered 
the first season or two, l)ut in most places this will not 
be necessary if the surface soil about the trunk is kept 
stirred. 

Pruning is done to change the vigor of the plant, to 
remove dead wootl, to j^roduce better fruit or flowers, 
to o])en the plant to light and air, to keep the ]ilant 
within manageable shape anil size to facilitate sjiraying, 
gathering fruit, and cultivating, or to train to some de- 
sired form. When young trees are set it is generally 
best to prune some branches to allow^ for the roots de- 
stroyed in transplanting. The size and quality of fruit 
are made better by judicious pruning. Excessive pruning 
causes overgrowth of wood. Grapes are jiroduced on 
the season's growth of shoots from the previous season's 



THE ORCHARD 157 

growth, and .so it is desirable to start each season with 
wood only a year old. Blackberries and ras])berries 
grow on the preceding year's canes, so old canes which 
have borne once should be cut out. The growing canes 
should l^e cut off or headed-in when the plants are two 
to three feet high. 

In regard to the time of year for pruning, opinions 
differ. It is generally agreed, however, that grapevines 
should be pruned in the fall or winter, and trees before 
growth begins in the spring — February, March, and 
early April in the northern latitudes. Dead wood may 
be removed at any time. 

Good authorities differ in regard to dressings for 
wounds. Professor Bailey, of Cornell University, con- 
cludes as the result of many experiments that there is 
nothing better than lead paint, but that the nature of 
the wound and its position on the tree have more in- 
fluence on the healing than either the season of the year 
when the wound is made or the kind of dressing used. 
All authorities agree that the wound should be smooth 
and the heel short, so that the bark may grow over and 
cover the wound. Careful pruners cut off large branches 
twice. The first time they saw about halfway through 
on the under side and then saw down on the upper side 
a short distance farther out. This prevents the limb 
si)litting as it falls off. The short stub is then sawed off 
close to the liinl) oi- trunk. 

Note various trees us to methods of pruning — lone; stubs itnd 
short, and relative healing. — Choose two trees of a certain fruit 
side by side. Spray one, and compare results at harvest. — 
Study pruning methods in the best orchard in your vicinity. 



158 AX INTIIUDI CTIOX TO A( i KK'T LTUIiE 

SUMMARY 

The apjile is one of the most universally desirefl fruits, and 
by a careful choiee of varieties a suj^ply may be had the year 
round. — The i)ear is easily raised and is excellent for canning 
purposes. — The peach is one of the most delicious of fruits, both 
for eating fresh and for preserving. It may be gro\vn where the 
winters are not too severe. — Cherries are always salable and re- 
quire little care or expense. — To get good fruit, the farmer must 
have good stock, proi)erly budded or grafted, and must gi\'e 
attention to the condition of the soil, pruning, and protection 
from insect enemies and plant diseases. 

A small extra ex])ense in properly i)ickiug and ])reparing 
fruit for the market will often bring laige returns. — The fruit 
grower must keep informed of the general condition of crops so 
as to determine when to sell and what price he can get. 

QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 

1. ^\^ly is the apple king of fruits? 

2. Why is it generally advisable not to raise crops between 
the rows in an orchard? 

3. Would you let hogs into an old api)le orchard? Why? 

4. How many trees may be set in a one-acre lot, IG rods 
long, if the trees are 2 rods a})art, no tree nearer than 1 rod to 
the sides of the field, and the end trees set on the line? 

5. If the crop is worth $10 per tree, what would be the 
value of the yield per acre? 

6. A man had 200 barrels of apples that he could have sold 
at $2 per barrel, October 1st. He kept them until April and 
hired a man for $10 to help him sort and repack the two thirds 
which had not decayed. Then he sold them for $3 per barrel. If 
interest on his money was worth 5 ])er cent , how nuidi did he lose? 

7. How much time, at $2 a <lay, will ."> barrels of apples 
pay for, at $3 a barrel? 

8. How many grapes at 2.") cents a basket will it take to pay 
for a half hour's care four times in a season, allowing 20 cents 
an hour for labor? 



CHAPTER XV 



CATTLE 



119. The Usefulness of the Cow. — Perhaps the most 
important animal kept on the farm is the cow. Among 
its more important products are milk, butter, cheese, 
meat, leather, manure. The cow is useful to the farmer 
chiefly for dairy purposes and for beef. Some breeds of 
cattle combine, in a measure, the qualities of both dairy 
and beef types. 

120. The Dairy Cow. — The dairy type is character- 
ized by leanness and angularity. It has large abdominal 
capacity, deep chest, a small head, and large udder. 
The neck is long, thin, and muscular. The back is 




Diagram Showino DAiftv Type of Cow. 
a, front view; h, roar view; c, side view. 

strong, rather long, with prominent backbone. The hips 
are wide apart and ])romin(Mit. The milk veins are 
prominent and branching. Looked at from the side, 

159 



IGU AN INTliODlKTlON TO ACIlIUa'LTlJltE 

front, and above, it ])resents the form of a wedge. The 
four principal dairy breetls are the IIolstein-Fricsian, 
Guernsey, Jersey, and Ayrshire. 

The Holstein, while a good milker, is used also for 
beef. It is the largest of the dairy breeds, although the 




Ilol-SIKIN, Col.ANTHA I'oUUTH 's " .loH AN .\ A ," ClI AMPK )N' DaIUY C\)\V OF 

THE World. Record for one yca^: milk, 27,432.5 lbs.; average 
test, 3.64%; butter fat, 998.26 lbs. Owned by W. J. GlUett, 
Wiscon.sin. 

size vai'ies somewhat according to the feed and care the 
animal receives before reaching maturity. The colors 
are black and white. It has been bred in the Nether- 
lands for two thousand years. There it is kept in winter 
in the common shelter, se]iarated from the family by a 
thin partition only. The al)undance of milk, and the 
large size of the animal, are attributetl to the great care 
exercised by its breeders for so many generations and 
the rich pastures which it always enjoyed. The cows 



CATTLE 



161 



givo a large quantity of milk, but tlie p(n-contage of 
butter fat may be small. In spite of this, however, the 
Holstein has now (January, 1910) the champion dairy 
cow of the world, Colantha Fourth's "Johanna" having 
produced in one year 27,432.5 pounds of milk averaging 
3.64 per cent fat, and 998.26 pounds of butter fat. 

The Guernsey is a rather large animal of a quiet dis- 
position, though generally not so large as the Holstein. 
The color is generally light brown, with white patches 
on the body and legs. The ears are yellow on the inside. 




GuEKNSEY Bull, "Casteriliu.s," No. 10980. 
Owned by Ralph Tratt, Whitewater, Wisconsin. 

The average weight for mature cows is 1,050 pounds, 
and for bulls about 1,500 pounds. The milk of. the 
Guernsey often tests five per cent or more of butter fat. 
The milk, cream, and butter from this lireed are generally 
a deeper yellow than that of the other breeds. The 



162 AN INTKODUCTION TO AdKKUTLTUUE 

Guernsey row, " Yoksa Sunbeam," has a record for 1908 
of 1 4,920. <S pounds of milk testing 5.74 per cent fat, 
and 857.15 pounds of fat. "Dolly Dimple," 3A years 
old, is the chami)ion (iuenisey heifer (1910). She has a 




" 1 KKSA SiMiKAM," ClvEHNsKY Cow. Itofoftl for uiic vcur: milk, 
14,920.8 lbs.; average test, 5.74%; fat, 857.15 lbs. Owned by 
Rietbrook Estate, Wisconsin. 

record of 906.89 jiounds of butter fat. The Guernsey 
has the record for producing more pounds of butter fat 
in proportion to cost of keeping; than any other breed. 

The Jersey originated on the island of Jersey, near 
the coast of France. It is a remarkal)ly high-bred, fine- 
grained animal. The color may be any shatle of brown 
to black, various shades of yellow fawn, and tan, or even 
white. Fawm and tan seem to be the favorite colors in 
the United States. Around the muzzle there is a char- 
acteristic ring of light-colored hair which gives the ani- 



CATTLE 163 

mal the appearance of having dipped her nose in meal. 
Mature cows should weigh 800 to 1,000 pounds and 
bulls 1,200 to 1,500 pounds. The milk of the Jersey is 
often too rich to feed undiluted to calves. The cham- 
pion Jersey cow of the world (1910) is " Jacoba Irene," 
\\ith a record of 924 pounds of butter fat in a year. 




Jersey Cow, "Lady Pandora," No. 173727. 
Owned by F. H. Scribncr & Sons, Rosondale, Wisconsin. 

The Ayrshire is a native of Scotland, where it is very 
hardy, being accustomed to roam long distances for its 
feed. It is sprightly and active and well adapted for 
hilly pastures and hard conditions. The color is usually 
red and white, the two colors not being mixed, but ex- 



164 AN INTKODUCTION TO AGRICULTURE 

isting in patches. The standard weight for mature cows 
is 1,000 pounds, while bulls should weigh 1,500 pounds 
or more. The breed is noted for the large quantity of 
milk yielded in proportion to the size of the animal and 
to the quantity of food consumed. The milk is said to 
be more easily digested than that of some other breeds. 




'Rena Ross," Champion Ayhshikk Cow of the Woki.d. Uicord for 
one year: milk, 15,072 lbs.; average test, 4.2G%; fat, 643.2 lbs. 
Owned by John Valentine, Penn.sylvania. 



The champion Ayrshire cow at the present time is ''Rena 
Ross," with a record of 15,072 pounds of milk testing 
4.26 per cent, and 643.2 pounds of butter fat. 

121. Beef Breeds. — Among the most common s]:)ocial 
beef breeds in America are the Hereford, Galloway, 
Aberdeen-Angus, Shorthorn, Polled Durham, Polled 



CATTLE 



165 



Hereford, and Sussex. The general form of the beef 
animal is broad, straight, deep, and compact. Viewed 




uU 



( 





Diagram Showing Beef Type of Cow. 

from almost any point the body should show a rectan- 
gular or parallelogram shape. The legs are short, the 
loins, back, and chest thickly covered with flesh. The 




Hf-refofjd Cow. 



hips are smooth and wide apart. The angularity, char- 
acteristic of the dairy type, does not appear. 
12 



1G6 AN INTRODUCTION TO AGRICULTURE 

The Hereford, first brought to this country in 1S17, 
has been imported in great numbers since 1S79. This 
breed is red, with a white face and a white fine extending 
back from the head to a greater or less distance. The 
Galloway, first imported in 1853, is used on the Western 
ranches because of its hardiness. The hair is long, fine, 
shaggy, thick, and black, sometimes tinged with brown, 
and the animals are without horns. In the j\Iitldlc A\'cst 
the Aberdeen-Angus is kept in greater numbers than the 
Galloway. It is a larger animal than the latter; the hair 
is smooth and black, and it is hornless. It was first im- 
ported in 1878. The Shorthorn is the most numerous 
beef breed in America. It has been bred for both beef 
and milk, so that we find distinct meat and dairy types. 
^\'hcn the time of usefulness for milk is gone, it is easy 
to make good beef cattle of them. In color, the Short- 
horn is red and white, or any mixture of these, l^nlike 
the strict dairy cow, the food of the Shorthorn goes 
rather to flesh than to milk. This breed was first im- 
ported in 1783. 

The Polled Durham resembles the Shorthorn, except 
that the former has no horns. This breed has the tlis- 
tinction of being the only breed of cattle originated in 
the ruitod States. The Polled Hereford is merely a 
hoi'nless tyi)e of the Ilerefonl. The Sussex, imported 
from the county of that name in England, has never 
attained great popularity in America. 

122. Advantages in Raising Cattle. — You can easily 
think of many atlvantages in raising cattle. A ton of 
hay or grain is worth more made into beef or milk or 
butter than it is in its raw condition. Cattle furnish an 



CATTLE 167 

income all the year. In no other way can the fertility 
of the land be maintained so surely and easily as by the 
use of barnyard manure (Sec. 35). The animal fur-' 
nishes a variety of profitable farm products. The keep- 
ing of livestock greatly affects the whole plan of farm 
management. 

123. The Importance of Good Cattle. — A good animal 
is one that produces the most value from a given amount 
of footl consumed. Many farmers do not realize the im- 
portance of this. A little figuring will show that a 
good cow will soon pay for the difference between her 
cost and that of a poor individual. Since it costs little 
more to keep a cow that will furnish a pound of butter a 
day than one that furnishes one fourth that amount, it 
is best for the farmer to consider how he may have good 
cattle. 

If the student lives on a farm, he should find the amount of 
feed consumed, the amount of milk given, and the percentage 
of butter fat for each cow kept on his farm. 

124. How to Improve the Herd. — The farmer who 
wishes to make as much as })ossible from his cattle will 
constantly improve his herd. Unless he is making a 
business of selling pure-bred cattle it is not necessary 
that he have pure-bred animals. He may keep up his 
herd by buying good cattle and taking care of them, 
feeding them properly, and seeing that their surround- 
ings are healthful (see Chapter XX). Or he may im- 
l)rove the herd by breeding from }nu-e-l)loo{l or high- 
grade males. By selling off the lower grade and keeping 
only the best the quality can be raised. Even with 



168 AN INTKODIKTION TO AOKICULTUKE 

cattle of the same j^rjuU; thoro may be individual differ- 
ences and those that excel in the points desired should 
l)e retained and others raised from them. Many of our 
best herds are thus produced by "grading up." Start- 
ing with a pure-bred male, the third generation will be 
seven eighths pure and the fifth generation nearly as 
good as pure. 

1. After studying; this chapter, the student should take occa- 
sion to observe different breeds of cattle and note their differences. 
Special visits should be made to farms where other breeds are 
kept. 

2. The amount of feed and product of each cow of the home 
herd should be determined and the unprofitable cows singled out. 



SUMMARY 

Farm cattle are of two types — dairy breeds and beef breeds 
— distinct in appearance and in the purposes for which they are 
raised. Cattle are necessary on a farm in order to maintain 
the fertility of the soil, among other things. 

The animal eats the product of the soil and turns it into 
profit, furnishing a variety of valuable products. — The poor 
animal costs as much to keep as the superior one — The farmer 
should know the ])rodu('ing value of individual cattle, and 
should use this knowledge to improve his herd by breeding. 

QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 

1. Mention some characteristics of the dairy cow. 

2. Why should a dairy cow have a large stomach? 

3. What are the advantages of hornless cattle? Does it pay 
to dehorn cattle? 

4. Why is it better to sell beef than corn? 

5. If in a year a cow eats three tons of hay worth $10 per 



CATTLE 169 

ton, half a ton of mixed feed worth $20 per ton, and $0 worth 
of jiasture, what does it cost to feed her? 

6. If a poor cow gives 15 pounds of milk daily for 300 days 
in the year, what is the return at $1.25 per hundred pounds? 

7. A herd of 15 Guernseys gave an average of 6,626 pounds 
of milk per year. What was the return per cow if each ate the 
amount stated in the fifth problem? 

8. If the milk was used for butter and produced 355 pounds 
per cow, what was it worth at 25 cents a pound for the 15 cows? 

9. If each cow produced one calf worth $5 and $10 worth 
of manure, how much did the farmer get for his work? 

10. If six pounds of fat will make seven pounds of butter, how 
much would the butter made from the yearly yield of "Rena 
Ross" be worth at 25 cents per pound? 

11. If the feed for the year cost $60, what was the return 
for care and profits? 

12. Estimating the weight of milk as a pound to a pint, what 
would the milk of "Rena Ross" bring at five cents a pound? 

13. Calculate the weight of butter, value, and value of the 
milk for each of the other cows whose pictures are given. 



CHAPTER XM 

MILK AND ITS PRODUCTS 

125. The Composition of Milk. — Milk consists of 
wntor in which certain solids are dissolved and others 
are suspended. About eighty-seven per cent of milk is 

water. In this water 



^"^=^^:r ^^ are floating 



■_^ — - — 


-. ..... 





. _ . _ _ 





-. - 


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- - — — 


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WATER 87.2% 


—r-. 


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= ~ 


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FAT SJS^-o CASEINeSt' SUGAR5IS% 


1 !.,.. 



globules of fat 



minute 
com- 
prising about four per 
cent of the milk. 
Casein, which is pro- 
teid (Sec. 52), forms 
about two and one 
half per cent of milk. 
About five per cent is 
sugar. A little more 
than lialf of one per 
cent each of albumen 
and ash, which are 
mineral salts, makes 
up the remainder. The average composition of milk is 
shown by the accompanying diagram. 

The fat globules average one ten-thousandth of an 
inch in diameter, which means that forty of them placed 

170 



DiAOUAM Showing Composition of Milk. 
(S. M. Babcock, Wis. liul. No. Gl.) 



MILK AND ITS PRODUCTS 



171 



side by side would extend a distance equal to the 
thickness of this paper. In the milk of Jersey and 
Guernsey cows these glol^ules are larger than in the 
milk of some other breeds, and so the cream (which 



a. Skiininod milk. 



"o • o 
' • <J • . 



o 



f'"^' 



00°. 

o „ O • 

'o 00 
•• o 



o o 00° 
O " 0° o 



°0 



00 o 

o 00 



6. Milk. 




oOO( 
" 0° 






c. Cream. 




DiFFKUiiNT Gi{Ai>Es OF MiLK. (Magnififil 30U times.) 
From Farmeri' Bullelin No. 42, Wiaconsin Agricultural Experiment Station,- 



172 AN INTRODUCTION TO AGKICULTURE 

contains the fat) rises more quickly on Jersey or Guern- 
sey milk. The fat globules in the milk of Ayi-shires are 
small. 

The sugar of milk may be obtained by evaporating 
whey after the other jmrts of the milk have been re- 
moved in the making of cheese. Milk sugar, or lactose, 
as it is called, is generally seen in the form of a white 
powder, which is used by druggists and others who 
prejiare medicines. It is not so sweet as ordinary 
sugar. 

Albumen is the substance that rises as a thin, tough 
skin when milk is scalded. It is often seen on the top 
of a cu]) of chocolate or coffee. 

The first milk given by a cow for the young calf is 
called colostrum. It contains five or six times as much 
protein as does ordinary milk and is not good for ordi- 
nary purposes. 

Heat some milk and note the albumen on the toj). 

126. The Food Value of Milk.— Milk is one of the 
most perfect foods, as is shown by its use as the en- 
tire food of babies and young animals. It contains 
casein and albumen to form musck^ fat and sugar to 
produce fat and energy, and mineral salts to produce 
bones. 

127. The Souring of Milk. — The souring of milk is 
caused Ijy bacteria. These minute plant growths (Sec. 
32) may come from the air or from milk pails and other 
utensils in the dairy that are not ke])t absolutely clean. 
They act on the milk sugar, changing it to ''lactic" 
acid, which results in curdling the milk. IMilk is a 



MILK AND ITS PRODUCTS 



173 



specially good home for bacteria as it contains just the 
food and moisture they need. When it is at the right 
temperature, they de- 
velop very fast. 

To avoid souring 
the milk, every pre- 
caution for cleanli- 
ness must be taken. 
The hands and over- 
alls of the milker 
should always be clean at milking-time. Milk pails, 
cans, and bottles, as soon as emptied, should be washed 
in scalding water and aired in the sun. If they can 




Milk Pails. Note which one i;s Ijest pro- 
tected from the dust and dirt. 




Model Room .\iNi) Apparatus for Washing Milk Bottles. 

be sterilized by steam, so much the better. No work 
that stirs up dust, such as pitching hay, should be 



174 AN INTKUDUCTIOX TO A( JKICULTUKE 

done ill the barn just before milking. It is gener- 
ally advisable to brush off or moisten the cow's sides 
shortly before milking. If care is taken always to 
have everything concerned in handling the milk clean, 
it will keep pure and sweet much longer than if care- 
lessly handled. 

Take two samples of milk from the same milkin<z:. Allow 
one sample to eool naturall}', and cool the other by j)lacin<i; the 
can containing it in ice water. After a couple of hours set 
both samples in a cool ])lace and note which one sours first. 

128. The Milk Tester. — In order to know the pro- 
ducing value of a daii-y cow, it is well to test her milk in 
order to see what percentage of it is cream or butter fat. 
This can be done by means of a Babcock milk tester. 
It consists of a machine having a frame made to whirl 
rapidly, and suitable for holding tubes, or bottles, of 
milk. In a test -bottle is placed 17-j^ cubic centimeters 
of milk from one of the lots of milk to be tested. Before 
the sample is taken, the milk should be thoroughly mixed. 
To this milk is added an equal amount of sulphuric acid, 
which dissolves all of the milk constituents except the 
fat. The bottle is then put into the tester and whirled 
at high speed for five minutes. Hot water is added to 
bring the contents up to the base of the neck and it is 
whirled again for two minutes. More hot water is then 
added, sufficient to float the fat up into the neck of the 
bottle, and another whirl of a minute is given. The 
percentage of fat is then clearly shown on the graduated 
neck of the bottle. 

129. The Separator. — \\'hen a large amoimt of milk is 
handled, the cream is generally separated from the rest 




Bahcock "I'est Outfit. 1, spriiijj; huhuicc ior weighing milk; 2, milk 
pail ; 3, galvanized-iroii box for keeping samples of milk ; 4, sulphuric 
acid; 5, Babcock hand tester; fi, composite sample jar; 7, beaker for 
adding acid; 8, Babcock test bottles; 9, acid measure; 10, 25-c.c. 
pipette; 11, 17.G-c.c. pipette; 12, clinical thermometer; 13, hydrom- 
eter for determining strength of sulphuric acid; 14, note-book. 

175 



176 AN INTIJODUCTION TO AlJKKMTLTURE 

of the milk by means of a machine called a sei)arator. 
This machine may be run by steam or by hand. A good 
separator, properly rviii, will take out at least ninety- 
eight pel- cent of the cream present, while skimming by 
hand by the sim])le gravity ])r()cess often leaves twenty 
or thirty per cent of the cream. In the separator the 
unskimmed milk is made to revolve at an exceedingly 
high rate of speed. The milk, being heavier, is thrown 
to the outside of the revolving vessel, while the cream 
is forced inward. By means of tubes placed at the right 
points, the milk and the cream are drawn off separately. 

130. Cream. — That part of the milk into which most 
of the butter fat finally gathers is called cream. It may 
contain fifteen to sixty per cent fat. The separation of 
the fat from the milk is brought about by gravity acting 
on the standing milk. Cream is lighter than the rest of 
the milk, and so the latter sinks to the bottom of the pan 
and the cream is pushed u}). We say " the cream rises," 
but in reality it is pushed up. 

Cream is more or less yellow in color, the particular 
shade depending on the breed and mdividual peculiari- 
ties of the cow, and the kind of food eaten. Green grass 
produces a more yellow cream than does dry hay. 

The amount of cream in a given quantity of milk de- 
pends on the cow, and is quite independent of the feed. 
More feed ordinarily produces more milk and thus a 
larger amount of cream, but not a larger proportion as 
related to the w^hole amount of milk. One waiter has 
said: "The richness of a cow's milk is as much a char- 
acteristic of the cow^ as the color of her hair, antl feeding 
has as little to do wdth it." 



MILK AND ITS PRODUCTS 



177 



131. Skimmed Milk. — The skimmed milk that is left 
after the cream is removed is still a good food, especially 
for young animals. The fat is gone, to be sure; but all 
the other constituents remain and a little meal will 
furnish an equivalent amount of nourishment. The 
meal costs only a fraction of what the butter fat is worth, 
so that it is much more profitable not to use the un- 
skimmed milk as feed for animals. Skimmed milk con- 
tains more protein than an ec[ual weight of potato, and 
nearly one fourth as much carbohydrate (Sec. 56). 

132. Butter. — When cream has been tumbled about 
for a half hour or more in a churn, the particles of fat 




A Modern Creamery. Showing a, ptistcurizer with a capacity of 2,500 
pounds per hour; b, vat in which cream is ripened 12 to 20 hours 
after being pasteurized; c, l,00()-pound churn. 

Courtesy of the Union Produce Company, Wliitewater. Wis. 



178 AN INTKODUCTION TO A(JKl(UTJ/rUKE 

unite more closely into small j:;rainy, S(^]xirate fi'om the 
water antl other j)arts of the milk, and become what we 
call butter. This product still contains about one i)er 
cent of protein, and may contain more. Butter is gener- 
ally made from soured cream, one or more days old, 
because the flavor of such butter is considered more 
desirable by most persons and it has better keeping 
qualities. The cream should be kejit at a low temi)era- 
ture, 40° or 50° Fahrenheit, antl the churning should be 
done at a temperature of 50° to 54° in summer and 54° 
to 58° or higher in winter. 

Perhaps the l)est churns are those of the barrel type, 
in which the cream simply falls from one side of the 
churn to the other. The addition of paddles is thought 
to injure the grain of the butter. ^lost persons demand 
that their butter be j'cllow, so butter is colored dui-ing 
at least a i)art of the year. Annatto is the coloring 
matter most commonly used. A small quantity is 
added to the cream before churning. Butter gener- 
ally contains about eighteen per cent water, salt, and 
curd. 

133. Cheese. — The same seimration of the casein that 
is caused b}' the souring of milk may be produced by 
adding rennet to milk. In cheese-making rennet is added 
to produce this curd. After it is properly formed by 
the help of heat, it is carefully cut into small pieces. 
Heat is applied for perhaps three hours longer to develop 
acidity, before the whey is drawn off. The curd is then 
handled to make it solid and to drain off surplus water. 
It is later run through a mill and cut into small pieces, 
salted, put in hoops and presses to form, and finally 



MILK AND ITS PKODUCTS 179 

cured in a cool room for several weeks before it is ready 
for the market. 

Cheese contains casein, albumen, ash, and fat and is 
very nutritious. Sometimes the cream is skimmed off 
])cfore the cheese is made. Such cheese is called skim- 
milk cheese, or skimmed cheese and in some states it 
must be made at least nine inches high to distinguish it 
from full-cream cheese. Fat is sometimes added to 
skim-milk cheese to take the place, of the cream. It is 
then called filled cheese. 

Cict a little piece of rennet from the cheese factory. Place 
it in milk and observe the formation of curd. 

The liquid left from cheese making is called whey. 
As it has lost its casein as well as the fat, it is not nearly 
so valuable a food for calves as is skimmed milk. For 
this reason it is often better for the farmer to carry the 
milk to a butter factory than to a cheese factory. It is 
better still for the farmer to separate his cream at home, 
for then it is separated before it becomes cold, he has less 
weight to haul, and he runs no danger of bringing back 
from the factory skimmed milk from diseased cows. 
We have learned that casein is a proteid that contains 
nitrogen (Sec. 52), and thus we see why it is better to 
carry back to the farm skimmed milk rather than whey. 

The student should visit butter and cheese factories and 
see separators and the Babcock tester at work, if possible. 

SUMMARY 

Milk is composed of water, fats, protein, suj^ar, and salts. 
It contains the food elements that jiroduce muscle, bone, and 



ISO AN TXTRODUrTION TO AORTrrLTFT^E 

fat. — Cleanliness in every detail is necessary to prevent the 
souring of milk. — Fat of milk is made into butter. — Proteid of 
milk forms the bulk of eheese. — The by-product of butter-making 
is skimmed milk, which is more valuable as food than tlu> by- 
])roduct of chccsc-makirn::, which is whey. — It is usually better 
to sell butter than cheese uj)on the farm. 

QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 

1. What is protein? 

2. How does protein differ from carbohydrates? 

3. Why is skimmed milk worth more than whej'? 

4. Why may it be better for the farmer to sell butter than 
cheese? 

5. Why is it better to feed skimmed milk and meal to calves 
than to feed unskimmed milk? 

6. How would you get the albumen out of milk? 

7. One ])ound of butter fat will make 1^ poimds of butter. 
Sui)i)Osing that the se])arator takes out 9() \)or cent of the butter 
fat, how many pounds of butter can be made from r)00 pounds 
of milk that tests 4 per cent butter fat? 

8. If this milk would bring SO cents per hundred ))oimds at 
the factory, how iiuich more would the butter bring at 20 cents 
a pound? 

9. How many hours extra work would the increase pay for? 

10. Which weighs more, a gallon of cream or a gallon of 
milk? (live a reason for your answer. 

11. What is the advantage of testing tlic milk of the separate 
cows of a herd? 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE HORSE 

134. Antecedents and Types. — Geologists have de- 
termined that in prehistoric periods there were horses in 
the United States. The horses now used in this country, 
however, are descended not from these, but from im- 
ported stock, chiefly from Europe. Arabia and Eastern 
countries have also furnished many fine animals that 
have contributed to the development of the present 
types. . 

The types of horses generally recognized are classified 
as draft, coach, roadster, speed and saddle horses, and 
ponies. To these may be added a fourth type, general 
utility horses, or carriage and coach horses; they are 
heavier than the trotter and lighter than the draft horses. 
Although these types are very different from one another, 
it is believed that they have all sprung from one stock. 
The differences have grown out of the various conditions 
in which horses have lived and worked, in many differ- 
ent climates and through many generations. Selection 
and skillful breeding also have done much to change the 
characteristics of horses. 

135. Desirable Characteristics. — There are certain 
points, well known to horsemen, which should be care- 

13 181 



1S2 AN INTKODIKTIOX To A(}iaCULTUKE 

fully oljserved in Ijiiyiiiii; a horse. Looked at from before 
or behind, the legs should be straight and the feet as far 
apart as the width of a hoof; that is, the horse should 
be neither bow-legged nor the opjiosite. Looked at 
from the side, the front legs should be straight to the 




IE ExTEUXAL Parts of the IIorsk. 1, fate; 2, forohoad; 3, oars; 4, 
nuizzlf; 5, chook or fowl; 0, poll; 7, throat; S, carotid; 9, neck; 10, 
crest ; 1 1, jujjular clianiu-l or furrow; 12, breast ; 1.3, withers; 14, hack ; 
15, ribs; 16, girth; 17, loins; IS, crouj); 19, dock; 20, flank; 21, V)elly; 
22, point of shoulder; 23, elbow; 24, forearm; 25, knee; 20, canon or 
shank; 27, fetlock joint; 28, pastern; 29, coronet; 30, foot; 31, ergot 
and fetlock; 32, haunch; 33, thigh; .34, stifle; 35, buttock; 36, leg; 
37, hock; 38, canon or shank; 39, fetlock jt)int ; 40, ergot and fetlock; 
41, pastern; 42, coronet; 43, foot; 44, lower tliigh; 45, point of hock. 



fetlock, or pastern joint, and the hind legs should have 
no tendency to ''cock" ankle in front, but be well set. 
The forehead should be broad, nostrils thin and open, 



THE HOUSE 183 

and the two halves of the lower jaw wide apart. The 
eye should be full and should have an intelligent, not 
vicious, appearance. The ears should be erect and 
active. In a draft horse, the chest should be broad, 
and in trotters it should be deep. 

136. Speed Horses. — The Arabians, the Thorough- 
bred, and the families of the American Trotter are the 
horses noted chiefly for s])eed. Prominent among 
American Trotters are the Hambletonians, Mambrinos, 
and Morgans. The introduction of Arabian horses has 
produced great improvement in England ; yet it is a fact 
that those imported into the United States have not 
been able to compete with American-bred horses. The 
Arabians, however, are remarkable for their beauty, 
intelligence, and fine points. 

Thoroughbred is the name given to a distinct breed 
of English horses which have been bred for racing 
through many generations. These horses contain much 
Eastern blood and are noted for their speed and endur- 
ance. The colors are usually bay, chestnut, or brown, 
but sometimes black or gray. The Thoroughbred is us(k1 
in the famous English hunting trii)s. The best hunting 
horses are a cross between the Thoroughbred and the 
Hackney. 

The father of nearly all the American families of 
trotters was ''Imported Messenger," brought to this 
country in 1788. This horse is described as having 
remarkable life, strength, and endurance. He was gray 
in color, had a large, bony head, short neck, and unusu- 
ally large nostrils. " All accounts concur in representing 
'Messenger' as being a horse of very superior, though not 



184 AN INTRODUCTION TO A(}K1CUJ.TUKE 

handsome, form, and possessing extraordinary power and 
spirit." Hambletonian, one of tlie most famous of the 
American trotting sires, is descended on the male side 
from '' Imported Messenger," was foaled in 1849 and kept 
in Orange County, N. Y., until 1876. Mambrinos are 
descended from "Mambrino Chief," foaled in 1844, a 



il 




^H 


1 


^'' ?^ 


1 


1: M.^ w 


r 


-iH^|H 


^H 


^nflHI^HHk \\ 


^^^1 


^^H 




li^l 


^H 


^^^^^^^HE^^9{ 



American riiououcuiiiKL-u rjRnii:,it, " Majuu Klkni-tt, '' No. 42450. 
Three yeare old; 16 hands liigh; record, 2.29^. Owned by Klenett 
Brotliers, Portage, Wis. 

great-grandson of "Imported Messenger." "Mambrino 
Chief" lived in Kentucky and was the ancestor of many 
h\uc Grass trotters. One of his descendants, "Minor 
Heir," holds the world's ofhcial r(>cord for 1908, a mile 
pac(>d in 1.59^1. Another famous ])acer, "Dan Patch," 
traces his ancestry back to " Imported Messenger" forty- 
three times, and has a pacing record of a mile in 1.55|. 
One of the most useful of American trotters was 



THE noKSE 



185 



"Justin Morgan," the sire of all the Morgans. The Mor- 
gans are useful not only as trotters, but for family horses 
and for general purposes, being noted for sj^eed, endur- 
ance, and reliability. One of these horses is said never 
to have lost a trip in twenty-five years of service on the 
Boston street-car lines. This horse, on being retired from 
active service, was kept by the company in comfort and 
luxury until he died, at more than forty years of age. 

137. Draft Horses. — The draft horses differ from the 
trotters much as the beef breeds of cattle differ from the 




Champion Imported Pekcheuon, "Stallion Pink. ' 
Dunham and Flitcher, Wayne, 111. 

dairy breeds. The body is shorter, broader, and more 
nearly cylindrical. The legs are short and stout, the 
hoofs are large, and the walls are strong. They are 



ISO AN IXTKODl (TIOX TO A( JKKHILTUKE 

characterizetl Ijy groat weight and rather slow move- 
ments. 

Among the more important th-aft ))iee(ls are the 
Percherons. These horses ai'o often gray in color, a 
condition believed to be due to Arabian l)lo()d; but they 
are sometimes black. They are al)lc to draw a good load 
at more than moderate speed, and although they are 
heavy horses they are by no means lacking in snap. 




Chami'ion l,N<,i,i.-ii Slum-; SiAbi.ioN, "Sthoxton T<im." Notice ilu- 
good form across tlie loins, wide neck well set on the slioiildcrs, and 
fine forward legs. 



The English Shire horse is one of the heaviest breeds. 
It may be almost any color, although black, bay, and 



TUE HORSE 187 

brown are the most common colors. It usually has a 
white spot on the forehead and may have one or more 
white feet. These horses can pull great loads at a slow, 
steady gait, but lack the life and energy of the Percherons. 

The Clydesdale is another draft horse, somewhat 
smaller than the Shire, but much more active. It is a 
rapid walker and is much j^rized for that reason. It has 
a kind, quiet disposition and good courage. In its colors 
and markings it resembles the Shire. 

Other important draft types are the Belgian and the 
Suffold. Neither is so popular in this country as the 
above breeds. 

138. Coach Horses. — Coach horses combine the 
activity of the trotter with somewhat of the strength of 
draft horses. Many of them are required to draw heavy 
carriages at a good speed. They are also expected to 
show some style, the more the better. Among these 
may be mentioned the French coach horse, the German 
coach, and the Hackney. The Hackneys are said to 
give endurance to the progeny of the English Thorough- 
bred, with which they are crossed. 

139. Ponies. — Shetland Ponies are the well-known 
stiu'dy little beasts that in this country are used chiefly 
for children's pets. They will endure almost any 
amount of hard usage and ])oor fare and will do a great 
amount of work for their little masters and mistresses. 
In England they are much used in coal mines. Their 
native home is the Shetland Islands, north of Scotland. 

Welsh ponies are growing in })opularity in America, 
and many are being imported and some bred here. 
They are also children's pets. 



188 AN INTRODUCTION TO AGRICULTURE 

In the United States there are two other common 
breeds of ponies, the Bronco and the Northern Indian 
pony, which have descended from horses that escaped 
from the early Spanish explorers. They are the saddle 
horses of the Western cowboys and are good cavalry 
horses. They have g;rcat endurance. 

Learn the different breeds of horses in your locality. Some- 
body knows and will gladly toll you. 

140. Use and Care of Horses. — Although horses ap- 
pear to be strong and hardy, yet they are very easily 
lamed or made ill. They shoidd be fed as regularly as 
possible, and should not be overfed, nor should the feed 
be changtnl suddenly. Th(^ horse has a small stomach 
and therefore its feed should not be too bulky. Chang- 
ing from old hay to new hay or grass is likely to cause 
indigestion, an ill which frequently becomes very serious. 
Overfeeding a horse that has been kept on short rations 
has the same effect. New oats and corn should be fed 
with caution. Dusty hay is to be avoided, certainly 
unless sprinkled. When a horse is heated, it should not 
be fed grain. It is safer and better to let the horse stand 
half an hour. A little hay may be given, but some care- 
ful owners will not give even hay to a warm horse. 

Care should be exercised also not to give a heated 
horse too much cold water. Authorities difter some- 
w'hat in regard to watering lioises bei'oic or aftcM- eating. 
Most persons think it is better to watei- the hoi'se before 
eating; but if a horse is very hungry he will not drink 
much until after eating. Man}' animals, free to do as 
they like, eat first, then drink and lie down to digest 



THE HORSE 189 

their food. There are reasons for beheving that Nature 
is a fairly safe guide in these things. 

Hardly any animal better repays the care given to 
it than the horse. A horse should be groomed each 
morning, to promote the health of the skin as well as to 
improve the appearance. In cold weather care should 
be exercised to prevent a horse getting chilled after 
being heated. It is bad practice to allow a horse to 
dry off in winter without a blanket, or to sleep in a wet 
blanket. It is fair to add, however, that many farm 
horses are never blanketed and seem to get along just 
as well. Nature furnishing them with an extra thick 
coat of hair in such cases. In snowy time the balls 
should be knocked out of the horse's feet and the snow 
cleaned out of the hair near the feet when the horse 
comes in for the night. 

In winter, notice the difference in the hair of horses that are 
blanketed and those that are not. 

There are many ways in which a horse may be 
lamed. Fast driving over hard roads and down hills is 
likely to cause ''knee-sprung" and " cock-ankled " 
horses. Many persons make the mistake of not having 
horses shod often enough. A little saving in black- 
smith's bills may result in a greater loss in lame horses. 
The feet of a horse are second to no other parts of his 
body in importance. 

141. The Intelligence of Horses. — Horses differ greatly 
in intelligence, but even the most intelligent cannot be 
wholly trusted. A horse will trot along a given road for 
years with confidence; but let a piece of paper blow 



190 AX IXTKODrCTIOX TO AdUICULTUKE 

across his path and he may sliy or bolt or run. The chief 
menial (juality of a horse is memory. ( )ne unjust stroke 
of the whi)) or a blow of your fist, and the horse is no 
longer your friend. If you once forget to unfasten the 
holdback and let the horse get caught coming out of the 
thills, you may look for trouble ever after. 

SUMMARY 

All horses are prol^ably derived from one stock. — The finest 
horses were ori<j;inally found in the East. — Four common types 
of horses are: trotters, draft horses, coach horses, and i)onies. — 
The different tyi)es of horses are the result of various con(htions 
of life and of direct selection and breeding. — Among those noted 
for speed are the Thoroughbred families, Hambletonian, Mam- 
brino, and Morgan and Standardbred Trotter and Pacer. — Draft 
horses are the Percheron, Englisli Shire, Clydesdale, Belgian, and 
Suffolk. — Popular breeds of coach horses are the French, 
German, and Hackney Coach. — Three common breeds of ponies 
are the Shetland, Northern Indian, and Bronco. — Horses are 
sensitive to unwise feeding and to hard usage. Care should be 
taken not to make them ill or lame. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Why is the horse im])()rtant to the farmer? 

2. Has horse trotting been of use to the world? Why? 

3. Why is it better to raise a blooded colt than a "scrub"? 



CHAPTER XVIII 

SHEEP AND SWINE 

142. Advantages of Sheep Raising. — On many farms 
sheep may be raised with much profit. The sheep yields 
two valuable products, wool and meat. Both of these 
are always in demand. Sheep are valuable also to 
the soil in fertilizing pastures on which they feed, as well 
as in destroying weeds and underbrush. They can 
feed and be well nourished where cattle would find in- 
sufficient feed. They also eat a great variety of feed. 
In some ways, however, they are rather dainty feeders; 
they will not do well on stale feed. Wool of even qual- 
ity is not produced unless conditions of feeding and care 
are good. 

Experiments with sheep and cattle have shown that 
it costs less to add a pound of mutton to sheep than it 
does to add a pound of l)e(>f to cattle. Cattle eat less 
per thousand weight than sheep, but they do not gain 
so large a percentage of their feed. At the Ohio Ex- 
periment Station it was shown that it took 8.9 povmds 
of dry matter in feed to produce one pound of increase 
in live weight in cattle, and 7.37 pounds to produce one 
pound increase in lambs. 

143. Breeds of Sheep. — Sheep were formerly kejit 
almost entirely for their wool, and so the breeds are 

191 



192 AN INTRODUCTION TO AGRICULTURE 

classified as short-wooled, niedium-wooled, and long- 
woolod. Tlie principal short-wooled breed in the 
United States is the Merino. It is represented by several 
families, the most familiar being the American, Delaine, 




JJavkm'oht.s. Jyoiig-wuuk'ii bnitl. 



and Rambouillet. The Merinos originated in Spain, 
and it is said that the robes of Roman emperors, two 
thousand years ago, were made from the fine wool of 
Merinos, The American produces a very fine wool on a 
very wrinkled body. It does not produce very good 
mutton. The Delaine has a smooth body and its wool is 
slightly longer and coarser in fiber than that of the 
American Merino, well adapted to carding. From this 
wool a fabric called Delaine is made. The Rambouillet 
is a French lireed dei-ived from Merinos imported from 



SHEEP AND SWINE 193 

Spain. It is the largest of the Merinos, and is raised for 
mutton as well as for wool. 

Among the medium-wooled breeds may be mentioned 
the Southdown, Shropshire, Dorset Horn, Hampshire, 
and Oxford. The Southdown is a thick-set sheep, horn- 
less, with face and legs of a grayish-brown color. It is 
the smallest of the ''Down" or medium-wooled breeds. 
It is much raised for mutton. Individuals weigh one 
hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds, and produce 
a fleece weighing six to seven pounds. 

The Shropshires are from the county of that name 
in England. The face and legs are darker colored than 
the Southdowns, and the Shropshires are heavier and 
yield more wool . They are much raised in the Mississippi 
Valley, being better adapted to withstand a wet climate 
than some others. Many common herds are crossed with 
Shropshires with good results. After the Merinos they 
are the great American sheep. 

The Dorset Horn is one of the well-established 
breeds of England. In the United States it is kept in 
localities where the raising of lambs for the market is an 
important industry. It yields a rather light, short fleece. 

The Hampshire is a black-faced breed, imported from 
England. It is hardy, a good grazer, and is widely 
scattered throughout Canada and United States. The 
lambs grow with great rapidity. The mutton is of good 
quality. The fleece is light, short, and inferior. The 
Suffolk Down is a large, black-faced, hornless, rangy 
sheep, originated in Suffolk County, England. It is a 
relatively recent introduction to America. The wool is 
of good quality and the mutton is excellent. 



194 AX INTKODUCTION TO AC. KKTLTUKE 

Tlie Oxford is the largest of the medium-woolcd 
shee}). It has a dark face and no horns. It is the sheep 
best adai)tcd to feed on wet ]\astures. It is csjiorially 
useful to pnxUioo nuitton hinihs to be marketed in early 
sununer, at four to live iiionlhs of age. 




Dorset Horn Sheep. Mcdiuin-wuulccl bm-cl. 

Tile long-wooled breeds, represented by tlie Clle^■io(, 
Leicester, Cotswold, and Lincoln, are not much raised in 
the Ignited States. The Lincoln is one of the largest of all 
breeds, mature rams sonu^times weighing two hundred 
and fifty jxnmds. 

144. Advantages of Raising Swine. — Swine will 
change corn and other feed into salable meat in less time 
and at h^ss exi)ense than perhaps any other farm animal. 
They will c(Misume waste products, and are a good side 
line on any farm. Much of (his time they reciuire very 



SHEEP AND S^yT^E 



195 



little care. They also grub out the land and enrich it. 
For these reasons they arc ))r()fital)le stock to keep. 

145. Breeds of Swine. — Swine are classified as large, 
medium, and small breeds. The large breeds are the 
Chester White, Large Yorkshire, and Tamworth; the 
medium breeds, Berkshire, Cheshire, Duroc Jersey, 
Hampshire, Poland China, and Victoria; the small 
breeds, Essex, Small Yorkshire, and Suffolk. 

The Chester White is largely distributed over the 
United States. It can be made to gain a pound a day 
for two years, but 450 to 500 i)ounds is good weight. It 




("iiKSTKit Whites. 



is esi)ecially tlie fat liog or lard type, but makes fair 
bacon. It is grown especially in places where hogs are 
kept in ])ens instead of in the field. 

One of the most popuhir ))reeds is the Poland-China, 
which originated in Ohio. The color is black and white, 
the white being confined to the four feet, the tip of the 
tail, and the nose, in good s]iecimens. The face is dished 
and the nose of medium length. These hogs are popular 
because they are peaceable and strong-boned and fatten 
easily. They arc of the lard hog type. It is not un- 



196 AN INTRODUCTION TO AUKICULTURE 

usual for one to weigh two hundred and thirty pounds at 
six months. 

In some parts of the United States the Duroc Jersey 
is a popular hog. The coloi- varies from yellow to red, 




PoLANU-CHIX.\. 

cherry red being the standard color. This breed is very 
hardy, prolific, good niothei-s, and with good tlisposition. 
There is more lean in tlunr meat than in that of the 
Poland-China, but it is still of the lard type. 

Perhaps no hog is more valued in America than the 
Berkshire, a fat hog type. The color is black, with white 
on face, feet, and Up of tail. The face is dished, and the 
ears generally carried erect. The body has good depth 
and strength. It is widely scattered throughout America. 
The quality of the meat is high. 

The Cheshire should also be mentioned. "The color 
is white, head small and long, ears erect, hair thin, legs 
rather long, body long in proportion to the other dimen- 



SHEEP AND SWINE 



197 



sions, bone fine." It is of American origin, and is of the 
fat hog type. The large Yorkshire, an English breed, 
is being raised where bacon hogs are in demand. 

The small Yorkshire is widely raised, especially 
where hogs are kept in a pen. The nose is very short, 
and when the animal is fat the eyes are almost closed. 
It is generally killed and sold when it weighs about two 
hundred pounds. In feeding, it is generally ''forced," 
or fattened as quickly as possible. It is a fat or lard hog, 
of little importance in America. The Suffolk closely 
resembles the small Yorkshire, and is of little importance 
in America. The Tamworth is a bacon hog, a golden red 




J:5eukshihk.- 



in color and little raised in Ignited States. The Victoiia, 
a lard hog, is also little raised here. The Essex is an- 
other small breed that is becoming popular. The color 
is black, face short and dished, hair thin, carcass long and 
deep. The animal easily takes on fat. • The Hampshire, 
valued both for bacon and for lard, is characterized by 

14 



198 AN INTKODUCTION TO AOKICULTUKE 

havino; a liaiid of white encircling the body and inclu(Hng 
tlie fore leg^;. 

146. Where and How to Raise Swine. — The hog has 
been well called the mortgage-lifter, and such it is in 
the great corn belt extending from Ohio to Kansas. The 
l)rofit depends on the supply of cheai)ly grown corn and 
the ability of the hog to get about half the necessary feed 
by grazing, "\^'here the latter condition is wanting the 
profits, at least in the West and South, will be uncertain. 
There should be good grazing ground, clean water, and 
shade. The source of the drinking water supply should 
not be a wallowing i)lace. The shade in summer should 
be from trees rather than buildings in oi'der that there 
may be a breeze. Hogs thrive better in small droves, 
and if many are kept it is better to sejiarate them than 
to let them all run together. The breeding sows should 
be kept apart from the fattening herd. 

Many keepers of hogs raise forage crops, such as 
clover, oats, vetch, cowi)eas, and, in the South, sweet 
l)otatoes, peanuts, and chufa. It is better to raise a 
variety of crops on small tracts than only one kind. 
Some breeders have portable fences to control the feed- 
ing. Salt and ashes should be supi)lied freely, and fre- 
(juent change of feed is desirable. AA'hen grain is fed it 
should not be thrown on soft ground to be trampled in 
the mud. Shoit and ground feed should be wet and fed 
in a trough. Shelters for hogs will vary with the latitude 
and climate, but in all cases it is better to have a floor. 
Many farmers use portable hog houses. 

It is found to be cheai^er to raise two hogs weighing 
three hundred pounds each than one weighing six hun- 



SLIEEP AND SWINE 199 

dred pounds. Experiments have sliown that thrcc^ or 
four pounds of feed will add a pound to the weight of a 
hog under a hundred pounds, while more than five pounds 
of feed are required to put a pound of weight on a hog 
weighing over three hundred pounds. The most money 
is made by fattening as rapidly as possible, and if a hog 
is not gaining about a pound a day it should be sold. 
During the last six weeks corn is the best grain to feed. 
Yoimg pigs should be taught to eat some grain and 
forage even before they are weaned. A few grains of 
soaked corn scattered on the floor will encourage them. 
Around the pen of the young pigs a plank should ex- 
tend, raised a few inches from the floor to afford a pro- 
tection for the pigs from their mother. Under this, 
soaked corn, shorts and oats may be scattered. Experi- 
ments have shown that the value of grain for hogs is in- 
creased if it is mixed with skimmed milk. Skimmed milk 
is not only a good flesh producer, but it also makes the 
grain more digestible. One bushel of corn and one 
hundred pounds of skimmed milk produced, in a certain 
test, fifteen pounds of gain when fed separately, and 
eighteen pounds when mixed and fed. 

When raising hogs for the market one should raise 
pure-bred or at least high-grade animals. The pure- 
bred hog will weigh nearly twice as much on the same 
feed, and the loss in dressing will not be over twenty-five 
per cent, while the scrub hog will lose one third. 

SUMMARY 

Sheep prod-uce two valuable and necessary products — 
mutton and wool — and arc a benefit to the land. — Breeds of 



200 AN INTIJUDUCTION TO AUKICULTUKE 

sheep arc divided into short-wooled, mcdium-wooled, and long- 
woolcd breeds. — The short-wooled breeds are represented by 
the Merinos, thvided into the American, Dehiine, and Ram- 
bouillet famiUes in the United States. — Among the mcdium- 
wooled breeds arc the Southdown, Shropshire, Dorset Horn, 
Hampshire, SufTolk Down, and Oxford. — The principal long- 
wook'd Ijreoils in the United States are the Cheviot, Leicester, 
Cotswold, and Lincoln. 

The hog is a useful animal bec'ause it is cjisily cared for, 
fattened, and sold. — Breeds of swine arc described as large, 
medium, and small. — Among the large breeds of swine arc the 
Chester White, large Yorksliirc, and Tamworth; among the 
medium breeds, the Berkshire, Cheshire, Hampshire, Victoria, 
Poland-China, and Duroc Jersey; among the small breeds the 
Essex, Small Yorkshire, and Suffolk. 

PROBLEMS 

1. If ten lambs gain 0.45 pound each per day for 90 days, 
what is the total gain? 

2. If the selling j)rice was $4.75 per cwt., what was the total 
value of the gain? 

3. If the average cost of feed per pound of gain was 2.93 
cents, what was the profit on the 10 lambs? 

•4. These lambs were one year old at the end of the 90 days 
and averaged 125 pounds each. What were they worth? 

5. The average weight of their fleece was 6.75 pounds, worth 
11^ cents unwashed. What was the total value of the wool 
and the lambs? ' 

6. Ten pigs just weaned were fed the following amount 
during a period of 48 weeks : Corn, 772 ])ounds at 70 cents per 
hundred; shorts, 579 pounds at 65 cents per hundred; bone 
meal, 193 pounds at $1.50 per himdred; "milk, 2,317 pounds 

' These examples are made from data contained in Farmers' 
Bulletin No. 90, "Raising Sheep for Mutton," antl refer to actual 
experiments made at the Iowa Experiment Station in 1900. 



SHEEP AND SWINE 201 

at 15 cents per hundred. The total gain for the whole lot in 
8 weeks was 533 pounds, (a) What was the cost of the feed 
for the eight weeks? (b) What was the cost per hundred of 
gain? (c) What was the gain worth at $6.65 per hunch-ed? 
(d) What was the net profit on the 10 pigs, leaving out the 
value of the work and interest on money invested? 



CHAPTER XIX 

POULTRY AND BEES 

147. Benefits of Poultry Raising.— Although the 
keei)iii<2; of poultry is on the increase, yet there are many 
farmers who do not realize its advantages. Poultry 
raising differs from many other farm occupations in that 
most of the work is light and may make i)Ieasant activity 
for the young folks or even for the women on the farm. 
In fact, many women are successful poultry raisers and 
make their living in this way. Poultry furnishes for the 
family an abundance of food that is easily prepared. 
The raising of poultry may be done on small places, as 
very little land is necessary. Poultry raising can be 
started with small capital, and even the best-blooded 
stock may be secured by small outlay for eggs of pure- 
bred fowls. Poultry furnishes a variety of products, as 
eggs for hatching and eating, broilers, and adult fowls of 
various kinds; and sometimes the feathers are a source 
of income. All these products are easily marketed. 
The certainty of a market is another good feature of the 
business, and at Thanksgiving and Christmas times the 
poultry raiser usually secures fancy prices. On the farm, 
much of the feed for poultry costs almost nothing. 

Large numbers of insects are eaten by the povdtry 
202 




201] 



204 AN INTRODUCTION TO AGRICULTURE 

as they range over the farm. This is especially true of 
turkeys, which eat locusts and crickets in great num- 
bers, besides picking up the larvic of many injurious in- 
sects. AVhere geese arc kept the sale of feathers may 
be an item of special importance. It is customary to 
"pluck" the geese about four times a year. The 
feathers are heated and cleaned to make them ready 
for stuffing pillows and oth(>r articles. The feathers 
from other kinds of poultry are sometimes saved, but 
they are not so valuable. 

The principal domestic fowls are chickens, ducks, 
geese, and turkeys. 

148. Breeds of Chickens. — The breeds of chickens 
may be classified as egg breeds, meat breeds, and general 
purpose breeds. The principal egg breeds are Leghorn, 
Minorca, Black Spanish, Blue Andalusian, Ancona, and 
Houdan; the principal meat breeds, Brahma, Cochin, 
and Langshan; the princii)al general purpose breeds, 
Plymouth Rock, Wyandotte, Rhode Island Red, Java, 
and Dominique. ]\Iost of these breeds have two or 
more varieties. 

The egg breeds are rather small, nervous, and lively. 
They are good foragers and are not inclined to sit. They 
like to run a good deal and should not be shut up too 
closely. The Leghorns are black, white, buff, or brown, 
and have large comlis and wattles. The Leghorns are 
the most popular of the egg breeds. They lay white 
eggs and many of them. The Minorcas are somewhat 
larger, and are black or white. They have large, single 
combs. They lay well all the year round, and are fair 
table fowls. Houdans have a topknot of feathers, which 




Brahma. 




White Leghorn. 




Buff Cochin. 



^Minorca. 




Karred l'l_ymoutli IJixk. White Wyandotte. 

Standard Bueeds of Chickens. 

305 



206 AN INTKODUCTIOX TO A(iKICULTUKE 

some persons admire. Thoy have five toes on each foot 
instead of fcnir. They lay wvW, ])ut are not kei)t to any 
great extent except for fancy j)urp()ses. They lay white 
eggs. 

The meat breeds are less trim than the egg breeds, 
are not so active, lay fewer eggs, and are better sitters. 
The light Brahma is white with some black markings, 
and the shanks are feathered. There is also a dark 
variety. In addition to furnishing good meat these 
birds lay well, especially in winter. They are hardy and 
easily raised. The Cochins have most of the good quali- 
ties of the Brahmas. They are smaller, but are hardy 
and good winter layers. There are four varieties, black, 
white, buff, and partridge. The Buff Cochin is the most 
commonly bred. The Langshan is bred in two varieties, 
black and white. It has long shanks, fewer feathers, 
and is more upstanding than the others. 

The general i)urpose breeds combine many of the 
characteristics of the egg and the meat breeds, so that 
they are good or fair layers at the same time that they 
furnish a good sui)iily of meat. The Plymouth Rocks 
are probably the most popular of all and are Ijrcd in three 
varieties, Barred, White, and Buff. Perhaps the com- 
monest variety is the Barred Plymouth Rock. The color 
is grayish white with blue-black lines running across the 
feathers througlioiit the whole length. The fowls are of 
medium size, smooth, and compact. They make good 
bi-oilei'S at eight or twelve weeks of age, and lay the year 
round. The ^^'yandottes are somewhat smaller than the 
Plymouth Rocks, and their flesh is considered by some to 
be better. This breed is hardy and does well even when 



POtJLTKY 



207 



shut up in a yard. There are several varieties. The 
other general purpose breeds are less popular in America. 

149. Ducks, Geese, and Turkeys. — Ducks and geese 
also may easily be raised on the farm. Ducks especially 
require little care as they are not so liable to disease as are 
chickens, nor troul)led so much by vermin, and much of 
their food is that which no other farm animal will eat. 
Their feed should be given in a softened condition, as 
they do not have a crop for softening it. Water plants, 
snails, and the young of insects are the natural feed of 
ducks. It is not necessary to have water for ducks to 
swim in, and many persons prefer not to let them swim. 
There are many breeds of ducks, among the more com- 
mon being the Rouen, Pekin, Indian Runner, and Mus- 
covey. The more popular breeds of geese are the 
African, Embden, Toulouse, Chinese, and Canadian. 

Turkeys bring the highest price of any meat from 
the farm, but more care is required in raising them than 
any other farm animal. There is, however, a sure mar- 
ket for them at certain seasons. 

150. Raising and Care of Poultry. — Like everything 
else on the farm, poultry needs care and skill in raising 
if it is to be made 
profitable. Chick- 
ens should have 
a warm shed or 
house, free from 
drafts, in which 
to sleep and to 
stay in bad weath- 
er. Thoy should 







.y/J ■>'•■ 



Chicken Coop with Sliding Slats. 



208 AN INTKODUCTION TO AdKK^ULTURE 

also have a scratching shod in which to exorcise and a 
yard where they can run. If they are shut up, they 




CnicKf:N Coop with Inclosed Ritn. 

must be provided with green stuff to eat, and there 
must be gravel and sand to eat and tlust to roll in. 

On farms there are many green things that would go 
to waste if it were not for the poultry: unsalable beets, 
potatoes, carrots, cabbage, lettuce, ]ieas, corn, and jioor 

specimens of fruit may well 
be fed to the chickens. In 
winter, roots and tubers are 
desiral3le. 

Turkeys are exceedingly 
frail when first hatched, and 
until they are quite large 
they must not l)o allowed 
to go out and g(^t wet in 
the early dews. At first, they do not know enough to 
eat, and'some persons j)ut a chicken in with the brood 
to furnish an example for the young turkeys. Very 
often food is stuffed into their mouths. Turkeys wan- 
der far away, esix'cially to nest and roar their young; 
fence corners should 1)0 screened off to tempt them to 
stay nearer home. As tlie young get older and stronger, 




Drinking Fountain Made of 
Can. 



BEES 



209 



they must have a large tract to feed on, and there- 
fore they cannot be raised in towns and villages as 
chickens can. 

151. Bees. — Bees get all of their food free of expense 
to the farmer; and though bees require considerable care, 
it is generally not expended in feeding them. Among 
the flowers on which bees feed may be mentioned the 
clovers, basswood, buckwheat, locust, milkweed, daisies, 
and other composite flowers, blossoms of fruit trees and 
shrubs, and cucumber blossoms in the vicinity of pickle 
factories, especially for fall feeding. Horse mint is an 
important bee flower in some sections. 





Bees, a, queen; h, drone; c, worker. 

Each colony of bees contains a queen, workers, and 
drones. The queen lays all the eggs. The workers are 
imperfectly developed females, and gather honey, furnish 
wax and beebread, make the combs and fill them, and 
feed the young becsi The drones are the- male bees and 
do no work. 

The queen lays one egg in each cell and out of it 
hatches the young bee or larva. This little insect ap- 
pears like a worm, and gets only what is fed to it. After 
a few days, the cell is sealed up and the larva spins a 
silken covering or cocoon about itself. Then after 



210 AN INTKODUCTION TO A< 1 indLTUKE 



about three weeks it comes out, an insect with wings. 
The queen lays her eggs in three kinds of cells. Out 
of the smallest cells come the workers. From the next 
size come the drones, and in a few of the largest cells 
are laid the eggs that are to produce queens. 

At certain times the bees, or most of them, in com- 
pany with the queen, having their sacs well filled with 
honey, rush forth from their hive and "swarm," as we call 

it. This swarming 
may be caused by 
the development 
of a new queen 
in the hive or by 
an oversupply of 
food so that there 
is no more space 
for them to fill, 
or by other causes 
we do not fully 
understand. Af- 
ter circling about 
in the air for a while they generally settle on a branch 
of a tree or brush near by. The bee keej^er must then 
get them to settle in a new hive. Sometimes the hive 
is carried to the tree on which the bees have alighted, 
and if they are low enough they can ho gently brushed 
in. More frequentl}^ the branch is cut off and carried 
to the hive, where the bees are gently shaken to the 
ground before the new hive and they find their way 
in. If, then, a little new or unfilled comb is found in the 
hive, something for them to go to work on, they will 




Cells C d:, i aim.ni. l.^,^,.■^, Lakv.k, .wu Pup.e 
OF THE Honeybee. The lower large, irref!;u- 
lar cells are queen cells. (After Benton.) 



BEES 211 

settle down and make it their home, and get to work. 
If bees are to be kept out of mischief, they must be kept 
busy. A modern way is to keep the queen's wings clipped 
so that she cannot fly away and will remain in the hive 
where she may easily be fovmd and placed in the new 
hive. Then she is confined in a queen cage and the 
swarm that has come from the old hive clusters there. 
Some apiarists do not allow their bees to swarm, but 
either place additions on the hives to give more room or 
divide the swarm. In the hives are placed movable 
frames in which the bees place their comb and fill it with 
honey. These frames are then removed and others put 
in their places. Some apiarists sell the honey in the 
comb and others extract it. Shallow hives are of the 
Danzenbaker or Heddon type, while the deep hive is of 
the Langstroth type, holding perhaps ten frames. 

When bees are carefully managed the yield of honey 
will average fifty to one hundred pounds a year from 
each hive. If the season is poor, owing 
to dry weather or other causes, or if 
the swarm is small, the bees may not 
make enough honey to carry them- 
selves over winter, and the bee keeper 
has none. Professor Hodge reports a 
hive that gained thirty-two pounds 
in weight in a single day during the 

flow of baSSWOOd nectar. There is Diagram Showing 
, • ,1 • , 1 • 1 A Bee Getting 

much water m this nectar which honey. 
'must be evaporated before it be- 
comes honey. Bees should yield a profit of five to ten 
dollars a year for each swarm, but honey, like many 




212 AN INTRODUCTION TO AGRICULTURE 

other articles produced on the farm, does not always come 
up to our expectations. 

SUMMARY 

Poultry raising is mostly light work and yields good profits 
with small outlay when proj^erly conducted. The work may be 
done on a small area. There is no farm industry, however, more 
likely to be a failure in the hands of the careless or untrained. — 
Poultry yields a variety of products for which there is always a 
good market. 

The breeds of chickens are di\aded into egg breeds, meat 
breeds, and general purpose breeds. — The principal breed of the 
first group is the Leghorn; of the second, the Brahma; and of the 
third, the Plymouth Rock. 

Ducks and geese are easily raised and feed on many things 
that other animals do not eat. 

Chickens should have a warm shed for shelter and a sunny 
yard for scratching. They must be provided with green stuff 
and with grit to grind their food. 

Turkeys require much care when young and often ha\-e to 
be taught to eat. 

Bees are profitable and of little expense on the farm. The 
honey stored by them is a good commercial j^roduct. 

QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 

1. In how many ways may poultry be valuable on a farm? 

2. Why are winter layers the most valuable hens? 

3. How would you tell a Minorca from a Houdan? 

4. Why are ducks profitable fowls to raise? 

5. In what respect do bees differ from the animals on the 
farm? 

6. If eggs of a pure-bred hen for setting cost $1.50 per. 
dozen, and common eggs 15 cents a dozen, and nine eggs of each 
lot hatch, how nuich more does each chick of the blooded stock 
cost than of the common? 



POULTKY AND BEES 213 

7. If a common pullet is worth 45 cents and a pure-bred 
pullet 75 cents, do the better eggs pay? How much? 

8. How many more eggs per year at 15 cents per dozen 
would the pure-bred hen have to lay to pay the extra cost of 
the egg from which she was hatched? 

9. What is the value of a flock of 25 turkeys that dress on 
an average 13 pounds each, at 20 cents a pound? 

10. A merchant "candled" eggs by looking through each egg 
toward a light and found two bad ones in each dozen, which were 
rejected. If the eggs that were not " candled " sold for 20 cents 
a dozen, how much must be charged for the " candled " ones to 
receive the same profit? 

11. Why would it be more just to sell eggs by the pound than 
it is to sell them by the dozen? 

12. What are the advantages in hatching chickens early in 
the season? 

i3. What is the profit from a flock of 15 hens, if each hen 
lays during the year 200 eggs selling at an average price of 20 
cents a dozen, and if each hen eats one dollar's worth of feed per 
year? 

14. If a hive of bees that costs $5 swarms once and makes 30 
pounds of honey at 15 cents per pound, what is the profit? 

IS- On the first of May a hive of bees contains 20,000 im- 
mature and mature workers. If the queen lays 2,000 eggs each 
day during the month of May and 1,500 workers die each day, 
how many workers will the hive contain on the first of June? 

16. Why is a swarm of bees in May worth more than a 
awarm in August? 



15 



CHAPTER XX 

PRINCIPLES OF FEEDING AND CARE OF ANIMALS 

152. Importance of Animal Food. — The animals on 
the farm are kept for certain definite purposes, as the 
horse for farm labor, the cow for milk or beef, the hen 
for eggs. We give them food and care in order that the 
results or products may be good. We might liken the 
animal to a machine by means of which the farmer gets 
certain products. The feed is the raw material from 
which the products are manufactured. 

The products of the animal machine are: (1) heat; 
(2) new material to repair waste; (3) new material for 
growth; (4) eggs or young; (5) extra fat or other tissue 
and secretions ; (6) energy in the form of muscular labor. 

The raw material, as we have said, is the feed of the 
animal. In the case of milk, eggs, and flesh, the product 
of one animal may be the raw material of another; and 
all animals use the products of plants as raw materials. 
The ])roduct of the corn plant is grains of corn, which 
are the raw material for the cow; the i:)i-oduct of the cow 
is milk, which is the raw material for the calf; and the 
calf, in turn, may become the raw material for human 
food in the form of veal. 

The most important product, as far as the welfare of 

214 



FEEDING AND CAKE OF ANIMALS 215 

the animal is concerned, is animal heat or energy on 
which all other life processes depend. When this is sup- 
plied the other purposes of the food may be accomplished. 
This means that the animal must be given more than 
just enough food to keep it alive if we w^ant it to keep up 
in flesh, to grow, to produce wool, eggs or young, to give 
milk, or to do work. 

Careful experiments have shown that it is a wasteful 
pi-actice to keep colts and other young stock out of 




Model Cow Barn, Showing Tie-up with Cement Floor and Tiled 
Walls and Ceilings. 



doors in cold winters. It is useless to expect hens to 
lay eggs, or cows to give large quantities of milk, when 
suffering from cold. It may even pay to take the chill 
off the drinking water in cold weather. Exposure to 
cold demands that a large proportion of the animal's 
feed be used merely as fuel, to keep up animal heat; and 
unnecessary exposure lessens the use that animals can 



210 AX IXTJIODUCTION TO AUKICULTUKE 

make of their food for other purposes than Ijotly heat. 
Since energy is one of the important products to be 
gained from feed, it follows that an animal that works 
hard must have more feed than one that is idle. 

153. Classes of Feeds. — It was stated in Chapter VII 
that three of the constituents of plants are protein, carbo- 
hydrates, and fat. All of the protein compounds con- 
tain nitrogen. They are especially necessary in the 
formation of bones and muscles. The fats and carbo- 
hydrates are useful in supplying the l^ody heat and 
energy, and in storing uj) reserve materials for this ])ur- 
pose. The most important carbohj'drates are starch, 
sugar, and fibers (Sec. 56). Sugar and starch are easily 
digested, but fibers are less easily digested. 

Nearl}^ all the feed of animals is classified in these 
three groups. Before anyone can use feeds intelligently, 
he must be able to tell into which class any feed falls. 
For example, corn contains ten per cent ])rotcin, five 
per cent oil, and seventy per cent carbohydrate, mostly 
starch, and is classified as a carbohydrate, since the carbo- 
hydrate compounds so greatly predominate. In making 
up a ration intelligently, therefore, the stockman nuist 
know how to choose his foods to get a proper l)alance 
with the protein requirements of the animal. (Com- 
plete tables showing the composition of feeding stuffs 
will he found in the Appendix.) 

The following is an account of the feed of " Yeksa Sunbeam " 
(Sec. 120) during the test. 

During grazing season, excellent blue grass and clover pas- 
ture was supplied. In the late fall and spring of the year this 
was supplemented with some clover hay as roughage. In July 



FEEDING AND CARE OF ANIMALS 217 

and August, 1905, during hot weather and fly time, oats and 
peas in the green state were fed as soiling crop, followed, in 
August and September, by green corn. During the winter 
season, while stabled, was fed from 25 to 30 pounds of corn 
silage made of corn that was planted so close together that 
the ears did not develop ; also good clover hay and part of the 
time some alfalfa hay. Off and on during the winter she was 
fed some rutabagas. 

The grain feed consisted of a mixture of grain made up of 
four parts wheat bran, two parts ground oats, two parts gluten 
feed, one part Old Process oil meal. During the months of 
January, February, and March there was added to this mix- 
ture one part of corn meal. During the months of October, 
November, and December, 1904, she was fed 15 pounds a day 
of this grain mixture. During January, February, March, and 
April 14 pounds a day were fed; during May, 12 jjounds; and 
during June the ciuantity varied from 12 pounds to 6 pounds. 
For July, August, and September she was fed 2 to 10 pounds 
of this grain mixture. 

154. Balanced Rations and the Nutritive Ratio. — All 

animals require protein, carbohydrates, and oil or fats 
in the proper proportion; and skill in feeding consists in 
part in giving the feed in that proportion. A ration is 
a certain fixed portion of food dealt out to a person or 
an animal. When an animal's feed has the proper pro- 
portion of these three classes of foods for the purpose 
intended, it is said to be a balanced ration. 

In balancing a ration and finding the nutritive ratio, 
the proportion of protein is compared with the propor- 
tion of carbohydrate and fats combined, and this com- 
parison is generally written thus: 1:7, 1 : 12, indicating 
that there is one part of digestible ])rotein to seven, or 
one part to twelve of digestible carbohydrates and fats, 



21S AN INTKODUCTION TO AdKICULTURE 

or " carbohydrate equivalents." By carbohydrate equiv- 
alent is meant the carbohydrate (starch, sugar, and 
fiber) and fat expressed as an equivalent value of carbo- 
hydrate as an animal food. Fat is woi'th 2% timers as 
niucli as carbohydrate. Thus, 8 pounds of fat would 
1)(' worth 2'4 times 8, or 18 pounds of carbohydrate. 
If a ration had 12 pounds of starch and 4 pounds of 
fat, the carbohydrate equivalent would be {2% X 4) + 
12, or 21. 

If this ration had also 2 pounds of protein, the 
miirilive ratio, that is, the ratio between the ])rotein 
on the one hand and the carbohydrate ccjuivalcnts on the 
other, would be 2:21 or 1 : 10.5. This would be called a 
"wide" ratio because there is such a predominance of 
carbohydrates; 1 : 5 would be called a "narrow " ratio. 

For horses at work, the nutritive ratio should be 
about 1 : 6 to 1 : 7, the former being for heavy work. For 
milch cows, the average of 128 Wisconsin herds is given 
as 1 : 6.9. This is generally considered rather wide, and a 
ratio of about 1 : 5.4 is preferred for milch cows by many 
authorities. Wool sheep require a ration about 1 : 8 or 
1 : 9. Similar standards are set for other classes of 
animals. (See Table IV, Apj)endix.) 

The table on page 250 of the A]:)pendix gives the 
amounts of the different classes of feed constituents in 
various fodders. The last column of Table VI gives 
numbers representing the energy value (that is, the 
value in producing energy) of feeding stuffs in calories. ^ 

* A calorie is the amount of heat required to warm one pound of 
water four degrees Fahrenheit; or in the metric system, one kilo- 
gram of water one degree centigrade. Such a imit as this has been 



FEEDING AND CAKE OF ANIMALS 219 



In calculating the energy value of feeds, it is customary 
to consider that one pound of protein or carbohydrate 
produces 1,860 calories, and that one pound of fat pro- 
duces 4,220 calories. 

The following may be taken as a sample ration for 
a 900-pound dairy cow: 

12.5 i)ounds timothy hay, 
7.5 " corn fodder, 

3 " corn meal, 

4 ' ' wheat bran, 

2 " cotton-seed meal. 

By reference to Table VH of the Appendix the fol- 
lowing results may be obtained: 





Total dry 
matter. 


Protein. 


Carbohy- 
drates, etc.i 


12.5 pounds timotliy hay 

7.5 pounds corn fodder, dry 

3 pounds corn meal 

4 pounds wheat bran 

2 pounds cotton-seed meal 


10.9 
4.3 
2.6 
3.5 
1.8 


0.35 
0.19 
0.19 
0.48 
0.80 


5.8 
2.7 
2.1 
1.8 
0.8 


Total pounds 


23.1 


2.01 


13 2 







The other 7.89 pounds of dry matter is indigestible. 
The nutritive ratio of this ration is found by dividing 
2.01 and 13.2 by 2.01. The quotients are 1:6.5. The 
number of calories found by multiplying 2.01 + 13.2 
by 1860 is 28,290. 

found the most convenient with which to measure energy. It is 
becoming customary to use the word therm to denote 1,000 calories, 
as it allows the use of smaller numbers. 

'The "etc." in the table refers to the fat which has been re- 
duced to carbohydrate equivalent by being multiplied by 2]^. 



220 AN INTKODUCTION TO AGRICULTURE 



By substituting red-clover hay for the timothy, there 
would be a gain of 0.54 i)oiuid of protein, making the 
protein 2.55 pounds, with a loss of only half a ])ountl of 
carbohydrates. This change would make the ration 
conform more nearly to the Wolff-Lehman standards as 
shown by Table IV in the Appendix. 

155. Kinds of Feeding Stuffs. — For horses and cattle 
there is a great variety of feeding stuffs, roughly di- 
vided into green fodders, silage, hay, and dry coarse 

fodder, roots and tul)ers, 
grains and other seeds, 
mill products, and by-prod- 
ucts. Only a few kinds will 
be mentioned under each 
head. 

Green fodders consist of 
corn, rye fodder, oat fodder, 
oat grass, and the various 
well-known grasses, as red- 
top, orchard grass, timo- 
thy, alfalfa, and the clovers. 
Ensilage or silage (Sec, 104) 
may be of corn sorghum, soy 
beans, red clover, cowpeas, or 
certain other crops. Coarse 
fodder or "roughage" con- 
sists of dried corn fodder, bar- 
ley hay, oat hay, and all the common forms of grass hay, 
and straw. Roots and tubers may be turnips, car- 
rots, beets, or potatoes. The grains commonly used are 
corn, barley, buckwheat, peas, oats, rye, and wheat. 



i 


1 

- ,G 



A Silo 



FEEDING AND CAKE OP ANIMALS 221 

Mill products are corn meal, corn and cob meal, 
ground corn, oats, wheat bran, wheat middlings, rye 
bran, buckwheat bran, and buckwheat middlings. By- 
products are barley screenings, shorts, millet sprouts, 
brewer's grains, gluten feeds, hominy chop, linseed meal, 
cotton-seed hulls, meal, and the like. Other miscella- 
neous feeds are cabbage, sugar-beet pulp, beet molasses, 
apple pomace, skimmed milk, and the like. 

It will be seen by reference to Table V of feeding stuffs 
in the Appendix that the grains have the largest amount 
of feed value per pound. For this reason they are some- 
times called concentrates. The feed is so concentrated 
that it is necessary to feed roughage, as hay or straw, 
because the grains are not bulky enough to enable the 
animal's digestive apparatus to do its work properly. 

The value of feed for heating the animal and for 
giving strength or energy to work is measured in calories. 
A horse at moderate work requires about 27,600 calories. 
In figuring a ration, it is customary to compute the 
necessary protein and the number of calories. Let us 
figure a ration for a 1,000-pound horse at moderate 
work. According to Table IV such a horse requires 2 
pounds of protein and 27,600 calories. (Found by 
multiplying the carbohydrate value of the ration 
(14.85) by 1860.) Try 

12^ pounds of timothy hay, 
8 "of oats, 
4 " of corn. 

From the convenience table on page 254 we get the 
following contents: 



222 AN INTRODUCTION TO AGRICULTURE 





Protein, 


Carbohydrate, etc. 


12 § pounds timothy hay 

8 " oats 

4 " corn 


.35 
.74 
.25 


5.8 
4.6 
2.9 


Total 


1.34 


13.3 



The nutritive ratio, found by dividing each quantity 
by 1.34, is 1:10, nearly. Multiplying the sum of the 
proteins and carbohydrates, etc., 14.64 by 1,860, we get 
27,230, the number of calories of energy. The amount 
of protein is slightly under that given in the tal)le, ]:)ut 
is more nearly that actually fed to horses in the United 
States. 

156. Profit and Loss in Feeding. — The main object in 
raising stock on the farm is to make money. All feeding 
should l)e done with the question in mind, "How much 
more will this feed be worth when changed into flesh or 
milk or other products, than it is now worth in its jiresent 
shape ? " If a costly feed is used when a cheaper would 
do just as well, there will be less profit, and perhaps a 
loss. The farmer should find out just how much and 
what is i)rofitable to feed, and should use that and no 
more. Feeding tallies based on thousands of experi- 
ments have been published, extracts from which will be 
found in the Appendix. 

It will be seen from Table IV that the feed of oxen 
at rest in the stall should have a wide ration, 1:11, while 
that of milch cows should have a narrower ration, 1: 6; 
and horses on light work 1 : 7, and on heavy work 1 : 6. 

It is to be understood that many farmers feed stock 
without knowing these things. Thousands of farmers 



FEEDING AND CARE OF ANIMALS 223 

raised and fed stock successfully, learning by their own 
mistakes and experience, before these tables were made 
out. So they mowed with a scythe and cut grain with a 
sickle. But in the matter of feeding, just as in mowing 
and reaping, it is better and cheaper to learn by other 
persons' experience and progress, and the farmer should 
be glad to learn all he can about economical feeding of his 
stock, for whatever purpose. He does not wish to make 
the horse fat or the hog active; he does want, with the 
least expenditure of feed, to make the hog fat and the 
horse strong. It is well for a feeder of animals to know 
how much is being fed. Many persons feed twenty or 
thirty pounds of hay to a horse besides his grain, when 
ten or twelve is all that is necessary. It is well for one 
to know how near the standard he is feeding. 

If the pupil lives on a farm he should conduct a series of 
experiments in feeding. He may figure out a balanced ration 
for certain animals. He should weigh the feed, for he should at 
least learn the quantity being fed. If it is possible to weigh 
some animals at intervals, much interest and profit may arise 
from the work. 

157. Care of Animals. — Nearly as much depends on 
the proper care of farm animals as on the proper amount 
of feed. As was said at the beginning of the chapter, 
the first use of feed in cold weather is to keep the ani- 
mal warm. If an animal is not properly protected and 
kept warm, the feed that should go to lay on fat, or in- 
crease the size and strength of the animal, or produce a 
product, is burned up for fuel. Many persons in the 
Northern States let colts run out all winter, but it has 
been found that such colts suffer in size and vigor. 



224 AN INTRODUCTION TO AGRICULTURE 

Animals should also be kept clean. In some 
states there are now laws forbidding the sale of milk 
from filthy stables. Almost everyone curries horses; 
as a matter of fact, curr3ang does cattle just as much 
good. 

There should be a proper allowance of room and 
fresh air for animals. A great many barns are too open 
and subject to draughts, while in others the stock is 




Tie-up with Uirty, Defective Floor, Ceiling, and I^ack. 

crowded and the tie-ups are filthy and poorly ventilated. 
Animals need exercise also. Some years ago a Wis- 
consin farmer built a barn with the stal)los in the base- 
ment, expecting to kooj) the cattle there all the year 
round. He fed shredded corn. Finding after a few 
months' trial that most of his cows suffered fi'om foot-rot, 
he decided to observe and follow nature a little more 
closely. 



FEEDING AND CAKE OF ANIMALS 225 



SUMMARY 

The animal uses feed for maintenance, to produce heat, repair 
waste, and build up tissue. When these are satisfied, the surplus 
may be turned into work or production. 

Feed may be classed as of three kinds according to its nature : 
])rotein, fats, and carbohydrates. — Fats and carbohydrates 
produce fat and energy, and protein produces muscle and bone. 

An animal should have a certain amount of each kind of 
feed. The proper amount is called a balanced ration. — A bal- 
anced ration may be found from various kinds of feeding stuffs. 

Animals are producers of energy. If energy is lost, there is 
less profit from the animal. The source of energy is the feed the 
animal eats. If the animal is not cared for or protected from 
the cold, energy is wasted. — The farmer should strive to save 
the energy jjroduced by the animal. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Explain why an animal may properly be called a machine. 

2. What are the raw materials of this "machine"? 

3. Name some of the finished products. 

4. Why should a cow be kept comfortably warm? 

5. What are the three classes of feeds? 

6. What is a balanced ration? Why is it important that 
an animal should have a balanced ration? 

7. Which is the wider nutritive ratio, 1:G or 1:12? What 
do these numbers mean? 

8. Why is a hundred pounds of corn worth more than a 
hundred pounds of green fodder? 

9. What is the nutritive ratio of the following ration for a 
horse? 7.5 pounds mixed hay, 8 pounds oats, 4 pounds corn and 
cob. 



CHAPTER XXI 

GOOD ROADS.— FORESTRY.— HOME AND SCHOOL 
GROUNDS 

158. The Farmer's Interest in Good Roads. — One of 
the most important things in connection with Hfe on the 
farm is a pjood road. On the road the farmer must 
transport his produce to market, draw back his suppUes, 
and travel to mill and to "meeting." Nothing contrib- 
utes so surely to dislike of country and farm life as 
poor roads. The farmer plodding along in the mud, 
his team barely able to drag the load with harness, 
horses, and wagon a mass of dirt, pictures to himself his 
moi'c f(^i-tunate brother in the city, using ])aved streets 
and cement walks. He decides that he has had enough 
of farming, sells or rents the farm, and departs for the 
city. It is unnecessary to enlarge the jiicture; it is too 
well known. During many days or even weeks of the 
year, the farmer and his family are shut away from 
town, from church, society, and entertainment. A 
large part of the trouble comes from the fact that most 
of the work on the roads has had only temj)orary effects. 

159. How to Make and Keep a Road Good. — Scraj)- 
ing a lot of sand and dirt and sod and rubbish into the 
road and leaving it for the passing teams to flatten never 
did, and never will, make a good road. If a large part 

226 



GOOD ROADS 



227 



of the work and money spent in the last twenty-five 
years in repairing and making dirt roads had been ex- 
pended in doing a little each year and doing it well, 
every county in the Northern States might to-day have 
had its main thoroughfares in good condition. Much 
of the work done has really accomplished no good what- 
ever to the roads, and they are often worse after than 
before repairs. The work on roads should consist in 
making good gravel or stone roads which are permanent 
in their nature. 

There are certain foundation principles that should 
govern road-making and maintenance. The man who 
oversees the work should have scientific knowledge of 




A Gravel Road Properly Crowned, with Side Ditches and Tile 

Drains. 



how to make and maintain a good road. The material 
of the road should be graded, with the coarsest at the 
bottom; and the successive layers should be well rolled, 
compacted, and filled in with finer material. The road 
should be well drained. 

But most important of all is to have a few workmen 
constantly making repairs. The railroad companies 
have learned that the only way to keep their roads in 



22S AN INTIIODUCTION TO AGRICULTUKE 

good repair is to have a "section gang" with a com- 
l^etent l)oss constantly at work. Notliing made by man 
will last forever without attention and renewal, and a 
road is no exception. When a road shows signs of 
becoming rutt}^ the material should be hoed or dragged 
into the ruts, A half-day's work at the right time will 
save several days' work later and may keep the road 
in good condition. The roadmaster should make it a 
particular jjoint to examine the road in rainy weather. 
He should notice where the water collects and should fill 
in such places as soon as the conditions permit. 

The material of which the roads are made will de- 
pend on the locality and the financial condition of the 
inhabitants. "\ATiere it is possible, crushed stone should 
be used and a macadamized i-oad built. In some states, 
the state assists and frequently builds a sample stretch 
of road as a model. Many miles of such roads have 
been built in Massachusetts. Where it is not possible 
to build stone roads, gravel may be used. There is a 
great difference in gravel roads, according to the kind of 
gravel and the plan of construction. 

Much improvement might be made in roads with 
little trouble if country boys would form the habit of 
kicking or throwing loose stones out of the road. These 
loose, round cobblestones are a great nuisance in roads. 
Another way to keep roads good is by using only wide- 
tired wagons for heavy work and avoid driving in a single 
track. 

The sides of the road should also receive attention; 
the brush and weeds should be cut and burned, not left 
as a harboring i)lace for insects. The large stones should 



FOKESTKY 229 

be removed, so that the roadside may be used for sleds 
and cutters when the snow melts or blows off the main 
part of the road. Attention should be given to the 
drainage so as to avoid pools of standing water which 
keep the road from drying out in spring and after rains. 
Fences should be kept in repair. 

Acquire the habit of observing the roads traveled and of 
noting the condition and reasons for the good or bad condition. 

i6o. The Purpose of Forestry. — Forestry is the art of 
so managing growing timber that it may be used con- 
tinuously for the needs of man. It includes not only 
raising and care, but the handling of the grown crop, its 
product, and waste material. When the first settlers 
came to this country they found an almost unlimited 
amount of forest land. Four hundred years of careless 
cutting have so devastated our forests that, unless some 
heroic efforts are made, forests will soon be no more. 
For this reason, the subject of forestry has recently been 
receiving much attention. 

In forestry we study the conditions and length of time 
necessary to produce a forest, the best way to use and 
not ^ to destroy a forest, and methods of reforesting 
"cut-over" lands. Forestry includes also the study 
of the effects of forests on climate, including the winds, 
temperature, humidity of the air, rainfall, drainage, and 
other effects on the soil. The purpose of forestry is not 
to prevent the death or destruction of trees, for all trees 
must die, but to determine when to cut a tree so that it 
will be of most value to the owner, and will leave its 
place in the best condition to be occupied by other trees. 

IG 



230 AN INTRODUCTION TO AOKK'ULTURE 



i6i. Some Advantages of Forests. — It is now known 
that forests have an important inihience on tlie climate. 
The air in a forest is some degrees warmer in \Ainter and 
cooler in summer than the air in the open. The air 
in the forest is more nearly saturated with water than 
the air outside. These three conditions must affect 
more or less the surrounding region. The trees and the 




A DeFOUH.STKI) IIlLi..-^lDL. 

This shows how the rain water runs off carrying the soil witli it. 

dead loaves on the ground catch the rain and hold it so 
that it does not run off so rapidly as it does outside, and 
thus floods are checked. Equalizing the flow of streams 
is a most important influence of forests. Forests hin- 
der evaporation from the soil to a very great extent, 
depending on the amount of leaf mold on {ho grcnmd. 
As a wind break the forest is very important in some 
places. 



FORESTRY 231 

It has been claimed by many that forests directly 
increase the rainfall in the United States. On this 
point Pinchot's " Primer of Forestry," published by the 
United States Department of Agriculture, says: "The 
best evidence at hand fails to show a decrease in 
rainfall over the United States in the last hundred 
years, in spite of the cutting and burning of immense 
areas of forests; but it should not be forgotten that 
most of those areas have grown up again, first with 
brush and afterwards with trees. It is believed, how- 
ever, that more rain falls over forests than over open 
country similarly placed; but how much it is impossible 
to say." 

162. What Other Nations are Doing in Forestry. — 
Almost every nation is doing something in the way of 
public forestry. Japan supports an efficient body of 
foresters and has a forest school. Government forestry 
is well established in Austria, Italy, Norway, and 
Sweden. The same is true in Turkey, Greece, Spain, and 
Portugal. Probably the most perfect system is in Ger- 
many, where there are seven forestry schools. The 
forests yield the nation a great income. France, also, 
has an effective system by which destructive floods have 
been prevented by the planting of trees. 

Switzerland has one of the best systems in Europe, 
especially as a pattern for the United States. Forestry 
has been practiced there for six hundred years, and the 
public forests yield an annual return of about eight 
dollars per acre. The Swiss laws "Are intended to work 
more thorough instruction, good example, and encour- 
agement than by severe regulations." 



232 AN INTRODUCTION TO AGKICULTUKE 

The forests in India under British control are in 
charge of 300 superior officers and 10,000 rangers, and 
yield an annual net income of over $3,000,000. It is 
said that 30,000 scjuare miles arc protected against fire 
at a yearly cost of less than half a cent per acre. 

163. What Our Government is Doing. — There are in 
the United States more than 500,000,000 acres of forests. 
For somewhat over one hundred years the United States 
has made some effort to preserve the ])ublic forests. 
Even as far back as 1653, "the authorities of Charles- 
town, Mass., forbade the cutting of timber on town 
lands without permission." In 1799, Congress ap- 
propriated $200,000 for the purchase and preservation 
of timber land to supply ship timber for the navy. In 
1891, an act was passed which was the first step toward 
a true policy for the forests of the nation. This act con- 
tained a clause which authorized the President to re- 
serve timber land on the public domain. There are 
now sixty-two such reserves of public timber lands, 
covering an area of 62,000,000 acres. Their use is to 
protect drainage basins used for irrigating, supply grass 
and forage for herds of cattle, and sui)ply wood and 
lumber for settlers. 

Forest Service is the name of the forestry branch of 
the United States Department of Agriculture. The 
"Service" is making a map of the distribution of tree 
species in the United States, studying the value of differ- 
ent trees, such as those producing tanbark, willows for 
baskets, and pines for turpentine. The officers are 
supervisors, rangers, and guards, with deputies. Owners 
of timber land are given advice in regard to the best 



FORESTRY 



233 



methods of managing their forests. A study is made of 
forest products and the extension of forests. 

164. How a Forest May Be Perpetuated. — Several 
methods are in use to perpetuate a forest. One method 
consists in dividing it into small sections and cutting 
one section clean each year. New trees, self-sown, will 
grow up; and after many years the forest will consist 




A Forest Properly Logged Uxder the Forest Service Regula- 
tions. The young growth is uninjured and the brush is piled ready 
for burning. 



of areas in which the trees differ in age by one year. 
For example, it is found that certain trees will grow 
large enough for i-ailroad ties in thirty-five years. By 
dividing a forest into thirty-five tracts and cutting off 
one tract each year, the supply could be made per- 



234 AN INTRODUCTION TO AGRICULTURE 

pctual. Sometimes the trees for cutting arc selected 
from the whole forest, the same ground being gone over 
year after year. Sometimes a strip one hundred yards 
wide oi- thereabouts is cut out and then allowed to grow 
up again. 

Become acquainted wnth the trees in your vicinity and know 
the names of some of them. 

165. Home and School Grounds. — Many school- 
houses and some farmhouses arc situated on plots of 
ground that are destitute of trees and shrubs. The 
sun beats on the buiklings in the summer and the 
wind is unbroken in the winter. Nothing but barren- 
ness is visible. If the objects that are daily seen im- 
press our lives and helj) to form our characters, then 
here is an oj)poi'tunity to impress beauty rather than 
its opposite quality. 

The work in school agriculture ought to create a de- 
sire in the pupils to clean up and beautify the home 
and school grounds. From the neglected yards the 
tall grass and weeds should be mowc^d, and the large 
\\eeds ]3ulled uj) by the roots ; the dead leaves and weeds 
should be raked into piles, the other rubbish gathered 
up, and all burned or removed. Grass seed should then 
be sown. Even if nothing further is done, most 
]iremiscs will repay such work by their im]')rovcd 
a])i)carance. 

166. Trees and Shrubs. — Trees and shrubs look 
better, as a rule, when planted in groujxs or clumjis, 
rather than scattered singly around the home or school- 
house. Landscape gardeners say that the larger trees 



HOME AND SCHOOL GROUNDS 235 

and shrubs should be in the background as a setting for 
the buildings, with low shrubs near the buildings and 
open spaces With grass in front. Often trees or shrubs 
can be used on the boundaries in place of unsightly 
fences. It is a good plan to use trees or tall shrubs to 
hide the unsightly parts of buildings and outhouses. In 
selecting trees, find some that are hardy and will live 
readily in your locality. Some trees grow rapidly but 
will not live long, and usually prove unsatisfactory. 
The American white elm (not the red elm) and the hard 
maple (not the soft maple) are two standards for most 
localities. The basswood, or American linden, is a de- 
sirable tree because it grows rapidly and is also hardy. 
The blossoms are visited by honeybees, which make 
excellent honey from the nectar in them. The ash 
trees are quite satisfactory in the Northern States, as 
are also the sycamore, mulberry, walnut, Norway maple, 
horse-chestnut, and beech. For places in the South the 
catalpa, tulip tree, the cucumber tree and the sweet gum 
may be added to the list. If the buildings need protec- 
tion from the winter winds, then evergreen trees make 
a good wind-break. The Norway spruce is quite satis- 
factory for this purpose; the Colorado blue spruce is 
perhaps more ornamental but not quite so vigorous in 
all climates. The blue spruce is often used as an orna- 
mental tree. Directions for transplanting trees wore 
given on page 154. 

In choosing shrubs, choose hardy ones. Wild shrubs 
that grow in the locality are often the best for the pur- 
pose. Often there is some one in the neighborhood or 
district who has had experience in growing shrubs in his 



236 AN IXTKODUCTION TO AOKICULTURE 

home }'artl. Such a person will generally be glad to 
lu'lj) in choosing suitable shrubs, and sometimes can 
sui)i)ly the plants from his own yard. Do not depend 
entirely upon the descriptions in catalogues, or upon the 
advice of agents who are canvassing for shrubs and trees. 
Set out principally such shrubs as .experience has shown 
will grow well in your locality. 

Some of the shrubs that are used in many localities 
and have proved satisfactory are species of spirea, liar- 
berry, honeysuckle, weigela, Hlac, snowball, double- 
flowering crab or plum, mock orange, sumach, dogwood, 
and currants. There are many different species of these 
shrubs, some being better adapted to one purpose and 
others to different ones. If it is desired to form a hedge, 
the common barberry, lilac, bush honej^suckle, arbor- 
vitffi, elderberries, or others similar in character, will be 
found suitable. If there is a corner that can be filled 
with shrubs, tall ones should be set out in the rear and 
low ones in the front. The Japanese bai'berry is a 
pretty dwarf variety, and Waterer's spirea is very de- 
sirable as a low shrub, while the rose-colored weigela, 
tartarian honeysuckle and mock orange are taller and 
suitable for places in the background. 

167. Vines. — There are many climbing plants that 
can be used to make a yard beautiful. This is especially 
true around porches, over the doors, along walls, on 
arbors, or to cover unsightly objects. Climbing roses, 
clematis, Virginia creeper, bittersweet, English ivy, 
Boston ivy, climbing honeysuckle, wistaria, trumpet 
creeper, and wild grapevine are all suitable for use. A 
word of caution is needed here, as well as at all points 



HOME AND SCHOOL GROUNDS 237 

in gardening, that care must be exercised in the arrange- 
ment of the plants, or the results will be unsatisfactory. 
Each vine has its own beauty, determined by its form, 
leaves, and blossoms. The effect desired in any given 
place must determine the kind to be planted. There are 
a number of annual climbers that may be used in some 
places with good effect, such as morning-glory, wild 
cucumber, cinnamon-vine, moon-vine, and Madeira. 

1 68. Flower Garden. — Flowers should be raised in 
the garden or close to the sides of the house, but not in 
front or in beds on the lawn. It is as a rule better to 
leave the lawn directly in front of the house clear of 
trees, shrubs, and flowers, but at the sides and rear trees 
and shrubs may be arranged according to some plan, 
and the shrubs may be bordered with flowers. 

One of the most interesting flower beds may be made 
from the native flowers which grow in the vicinity. If 
a shady corner can be found, ferns make a very satis- 
factory background near buildings. Violets will usually 
thrive if transplanted wuth care; bloodroot, anemones, 
hepatica, spring beauties, pasque flowers, columbine, 
and many other flowers can be added. Ferns often can 
be added to such a bed with good effect. This is an ex- 
cellent flower bed for a school yard, as the children can 
dig up the specimens for the bed and tend to them as 
they grow. The blossoms also will appear earl}^ in the 
spring, before the vacation begins. 

■ Old-fashioned flowers can be grown with satisfaction 
in the flower garden. Hollyhocks, phlox, dahlias, sun- 
flowers, pinks, nasturtiums, stocks, verbenias, mignon- 
ette, larkspur, and candytuft represent a partial list 



238 AN INTKODUCTION TO AGKKUTLTUKE 

from which selections may be made. These are more 
suitable for the flower garden at home than at school. 
Some of these are suitable for borders along walks 
where shrubs are used in the background. 

In place of sowing seeds as for the above-named 
plants, bulbs may be set out. A bulb is a short under- 
ground stem having buds and many scales, which repre- 
sent leaves. Many of the early-flowering plants come 
from bulbs, in which much food has been stored in the 
scales. The crocus is the earliest of these plants to 
bloom out-of-doors in the spring. The hyacinths, tulips, 
narcissi, and lilies are very satisfactory. These bulbs 
should be planted in the ground in the autumn before 
the ground freezes. They will be ready to start with 
the first warm spring days. If the winters are very 
severe it may be best to cover the ground with leaves to 
protect the bulbs. 

The most satisfactory flower gardens are those that 
are laid out in accordance with ai)proved plans. There 
is as much opportunity for the display of good taste in 
this matter as in the furnishing of the inside of the 
house. Landscape gardening is being studied by many 
persons, and more and more grounds are being planned 
so as to produce a harmonious effect with the building 
and its surroundings. 

There are many hardy plants that may be used in 
clumps in place of the bedding i)lants. The bedding 
plants must be renewed every yeai-, and it is always 
late before they can be started. The hardy ones Uve 
over the winter, and increase from year to year. The 
investment here is a permanent one, while the other 



HOME AND SCHOOL GROUNDS 239 

plants must be renewed each year. The hardy plants 
are much easier of cultivation than the bedding plants. 
A list of herbs and shrubs is given by a landscape gar- 
dener : 

HARDY PERENNIALS FOR THE FARMER'S FLOWER 
GARDEN 

Aconitum autumnale (Monkshood). 

Aquilegia (Columbine). 

Althea (Hollyhocks). 

Delphinium formosum (Larkspur). 

Dicentra spectabilis (Bleeding Heart). 

Funkia subcordata (Plantain Lily). 

Hemerocallis flava (Lemon Lily). 

Iris Germanica, named varieties (especially Florentina, Ma- 
dame Chereau, and Silver King). 

Lilium su])erbum. 

Monarda didyma (Bergamot). 

Peonies, Chinese (especially Festiva Maxima and Lady 
Leonora Bramwell). 

Papaver orientale (Oriental Poppy). 

Platycodon grandiflora. 

Phlox decussata (especially Lothair and Miss Lingard). 

Pyrethrum uliginosum (Great Daisy). 

Rudbeckia (Golden Glow). 

HARDY FLOWERING SHRUBS BEST ADAPTED TO THE 
FARMER'S GARDEN AND LAWN 

Chionanthus Virginica (White Fringe Tree). 

Dentzia Lemoinei. 

Hydrangea grandiflora. 

Lpnicera bclla Candida (Honeysuckle). 

Philadeli)hus grandiflora (Syringa). 

Spirea Japonica, variety " Anthony Waterer." 

Spirea thunbergii. 



240 AN INTRODUCTION TO AGIUCULTURE 

Spirea Van Houttei (Bridal Wreath). 
Symphoricari)Us racemosa (Snowberry). 
Syringa vulgaris (Lilac), especially "President Grevy" and 
Frau Bertha Damnian. 

Syringa Jai)onica (Japanese Tree Lilac). 
Viburnum ojjulus (High-bush Cranljerry), 
Viburnum opulus sterilis (Snowball). 
Weigela rosea. 
Weigela Eva Rathke. 

The care of the flower garden is not materially differ- 
ent from that of the vegetable garden. The directions 
given there for the preparation of the soil and its sub- 
sequent treatment will also ajoply here. The soil should 
not be cultivated deep enough to disturb the roots, but 
the ground must be kept free from wectls. 

Make a ])lan for improving th(> grounds about your school- 
house, or some other l)uilding. Start the work. 

169. Conclusion. — The carpenter or other mechanic 
works upon his material, wood, metal, leather, or fabric, 
and sees it change under his hand to a thing of use or 
beauty. But these materials are lifeless and |)assive. 
The farmer, on the other hand, is dealing with things 
that not only can he change, but they themselves have 
life and respond to his efforts, cooperating with him to 
produce every product of the animal and vegetable 
kingdoms. 

SUMMARY 

One of the most important things to a farmer is a good road. 
— A good road is one that is hard and serviceable in all weather 
and seasons. — The way to have a good road is to build it right, 
of the right material, and to keej) it in repair. 



HOME AND SCHOOL GROUNDS 241 

Forestry is the art of forming or of cultivating forests. — 
Forests are, next to the earth, the most important possessions 
of mankind. They affect the cHmate and water supply. — 
Nearly every nation in Europe gives much attention to forestry. 
— The United States has sixty-two forest reserves. 

School agriculture should create a desire to beautify school 
and home grounds. — Generally the first thing to do is to rake 
up and clear away rubbish. — Shrubs and plants should be set 
out on the borders, leaving large open spaces covered with 
closely mowed grass. — Varieties of plants that are known to 
be hardy in a given locality should be set out. — Vines are useful 
for arbors, on walls, and to cover unsightly objects. — The flower 
garden is the place for flower beds rather than the lawn. — 
A bed of wild flowers is very satisfactory. — Old-fashioned flowers 
should have a place. — Bulbs yield early flowers. 



APPENDIX 



INSECTICIDES AND FUNGICIDES 
Bordeaux Mixture for Blights 

The following directions for making Bordeaux mixture 
should be strictly followed to obtain the best results: Dissolve 
four pounds of copper sulphate (bluestone, blue vitriol) in 
twenty-five gallons of water, suspending it in a coarse gunny 
sack near the surface of the water. In a wooden pail slack 
six pounds of fresh quicklime in sufficient water, then add 
enough water to make twenty-five gallons and then slowly 
pour the two solutions simultaneously into the barrel from which 
it is to be used. If a larger tank is used, proportionately larger 
quantities of materials should be taken. Before pouring the 
lime solution, it should be strained through a coarse gunny 
sack, otherwise particles of rock and undissolved lime will get 
into the mixture and clog the nozzles in spraying. It is very 
important that the two ingredients be mixed as described, other- 
wise the proper combination of copper sulj)hate and lime does 
not take place. 

The mixture should never be made more than a few hours in 
advance of application. It cannot be kept over; and if any is 
left in the spraying machine after the day's work is done, it 
should be emptied. 



243 



244 AN INTKODUCTION TO AGRICULTUKE 

How TO Treat Seed Oats to Prevent Smut^ 
Formaldehyde Solution 

If the desire is to sow forty bushels of seed oats or less, se- 
cure from your druggist one pint of formaldehyde. Put into a 
barrel or tank thirty-six gallons of water and pour in the pint of 
formaldehyde liquid and stir thoroughly ; next fill a gunny sack 
with the seed oats and submerge it in the solution for ton min- 
utes; then lift the sack from the barrel and allow it to drain for 
a minute or two in order to save the solution. Empty the oats 
on a thrashing floor or on some outside platform to dry, and 
repeat until all is treated; shovel the treated grain over at in- 
tervals until dry or nearly dry before sowing. 

If a large quantity of seed is to be treated the work will 
be facilitated by having several barrels or a large tank which 
will hold a number of sacks of oats, so as to treat several 
bushels every ten minutes. The time saved by having an 
abundant supply of the solution in the tank or barrels will 
more than repay the extra expense of the formaldehyde pur- 
chased. The oats must always be completely sitbmcnjcd for ten 
minutes. 

It is well to treat seed grain several days before sowing 
in order to give it am{)le time to dry, or difficulty may 
be experienced when sowing with seeder or drill. If sown 
while damp the seeder or drill should be set so that it will 
sow about one bushel more per acre than when sowing dry 
oats. 

The formaldehyde solution here recommended is not poison- 
ous to farm animals and will not injure sacks or clothing coming 
in contact with it. Oats treated with formaldehyde solution 
and not used for seed may be fed to stock, but when so fed should 
be mixed with other oats. 

The treatment of oats here recommended facilitates the 

* From "Oat Smut in Wisconsin," Bulletin 98, Wisconsin Agri- 
cultural Experiment Station. 



APPENDIX 245 

sprouting and gives the grain a healthy appearance, readily- 
distinguished by any observer. It is possible that the treat- 
ment kills other disease germs of which we as yet have no 
knowledge. 

How TO Treat Scabby Seed Potatoes 

"Make the proper solution by pouring one pint of formalde- 
hyde into twenty-five gallons of water. Distribute the liquid 
into several casks and into these casks put the uncut seed po- 
tatoes. The potatoes should be placed in gunny sacks and 
completely covered by the Uquid and left for two hours. If 
the potatoes are very scabby leave for two and a half hours. 
The potatoes should then be planted in ground that has not in 
previous years grown scabby potatoes." — Wisconsin Experi- 
ment Station Bulletin. 

Kerosene Emulsion 

Kerosene emulsion contains the following ingredients: 

Soap ^ pound 

Water 1 gallon 

Kerosene 2 gallons 

The soap is cut into thin shavings and dissolved in hot soft 
water, and this is then thoroughly mixed with the kerosene by 
being pumped back on itself with a force pump. Small quan- 
tities, as a quart or more, may be mixed with a "Dover" egg- 
beater. This emulsion is to be diluted fifteen to twenty times 
its bulk in the growing season, but in winter it may be used 
very strong for scale insects. If the emulsion sets it must be 
heated before dilution. Any good hard soap may be used. 

Paris Green 

Paris green is used for all biting and chewing insects, the 
mixture being in the proportion of one pound of Paris green to 
150 gallons of water. Paris green is frequently added to Bor- 
17 



7" 



246 AN INTKODUCTION TO AGRICULTURE 

deiiux mixture. In this way plant diseases are prevented, and 
the ravages of insects are lessened by one spraying. 

TABLES 

Table I. — Soil Constituents Contained in Average 
Crops per Acre 

(From Tables of A. D. Hall, Director of Rothamsted Experiment 

Station) 



Crop 

Nitrogen 

So.Li 

Pota.sh. 

Magnesia 

Phob-phoric Acid. 

Sulphur 

Chlorine 

Silica 



w 


HEAT 


Tons: 2.2 


Lb. 


50.0 


i.b. 


2.6 


Lb. 


28.8 


Lb. 


7.1 


Lb. 


21.1 


Lb. 


7.8 


Lb. 


2.5 


Lb. 


96.9 



Barley 



2. 
49.0 

5.0 
35.7 

6.9 
20.7 

6.1 

4.1 
68.6 



SWEF.DES 



30.1 

98.0 
32.0 
79.7 

9.2 
21.7 
17.8 
15.1 

6.7 



MANGEI.S 



30.1 

149.0 

118.7 

300.7 

42.5 

52.9 

14.0 

83.1 

17.9 



Hat 



1.5 
49.0 

9.2 
50.9 
14.4 
12.3 

5.7 
14.6 
56.9 



Table II. — Fertility Removed by Different Crops ' 





AssuMF.n 

ViKLD 

Per Acre 


Removes Per Acre, Lb. 


Kind of Crop 


Nitrogen 


Phosphoric 
Acid 


Potash 


Corn (grain and stalks) . . . 
Wheat (grain and straw).. . 
Oats (grain and straw).. . . 
Clover hay 


60 bu. 
30 bu. 
00 bu. 
2 tons 
2 tons 
1,600 lb. 
15 tons 
15 tons 
15 bu. 
200 bu. 


84 
62 
60 
82 
50 
70 
42 
100 
108 
33 


32 
20 
22 
18 
20 
8 
8 
35 
33 
20 


34 

26 
50 

88 
00 


Tobacco (leaves only) 

Sugar beets, topped 


91 

65 

135 




52 




62 







' From Bulletin No. 134, University of Wisconsin Agricultural 
Experiment Station, " Licensed Commercial Fertilizers and Feed- 
ing Stuffs." 



APPENDIX 247 



Table III. — Space and Quantities of Seed Required 

Name Space and Quantity of Seeds 

Asparagus 1 oz. produces 1,000 plants, and requires a bed 12 ft. 

square. 

Asparagus Roots 1,000 plant a bed 4 feet wide and 225 feet long. 

English Dwarf Beans ... 1 quart plants 100 to 150 feet of row. 
French Dwarf Beans. ... 1 quart plants 2.50 to 350 feet of row. 

Beans, pole, large. 1 cjuart plants 100 hills. 

Beans, pole, small 1 quart plants 39 hills or 250 feet of row. 

Beets 10 lb. to the acre, 1 oz. plants 150 feet of row. 

Broccoli and Kale 1 oz. plants 2,500 plants, and requires 40 sq. ft. of 

ground. 
Cabbage Early sorts same as broccoli, and require CO sq. ft. of 

ground. 

Cauliflower The same as cabbage. 

Carrot 1 oz. to 150 feet of row. 

Celery 1 oz. plants 2,500 jjlants, and requires 40 .sq. ft. of 

ground. 

Cucumber 1 oz. for 150 hills. 

Cress 1 oz. sows a bed Ifl feet square. 

Egg Plant 1 oz. gives 2,000 jilaiits. 

Entlive .' . 1 oz. gives 3,0(10 plants, and requires 80 feet of ground. 

Leek 1 oz. gives 2,000 plants, and requires 60 feet of ground. 

Lettuce 1 oz. gives 7,000 plants, and requires a seed bed of 120 

feet. 

Melon 1 oz. for 120 hills. 

Nasturtium. 1 oz. sows 25 feet of row. 

Onion 1 oz. sows 200 feet of row. 

Okra 1 oz. sows 200 feet of row. 

Parsley 1 oz. sows 200 feet of row. 

Parsnips 1 oz. .sows 250 feet of row. 

Peppers 1 oz. gives 2,500 plants. 

Peas 1 quart .sows 120 feet of row. 

Pumpkin 1 oz. to 1.50 hills. 

Radish 1 oz. to 100 feet. 

Salsify 1 oz. to 50 feet of row. 

Spinach 1 oz. to 200 feet of row. 

Squash . 1 oz. to 75 hills. 

Tomato 1 oz. gives 2.500 plants, requiring a seed bed of 80 feet. 

Turnii> 1 oz. to 2,000 feet 

Watermelon 1 oz. to 50 hills. 



Quantities of Seed Required to the Acre 

Quantity Quantity 

Name of Seed Name of Seed 

Whe.at IJ to 2 bu. Broom Corn 1 to IJ bu. 

Barley IJ to 2i bu. Potatoes 5 to 10 bu. 

Cats. ^ 2 to 4 bu. Timothy 12 to 24 qt. 

Rye . 1 to 2 bu. Mustard 8 to 20 qt. 

Buckwheat ? to IJ bu. Herd Grass 12 to 16 qt. 

Millet 1 to U bu. FLat Turnip 2 to 3 lb. 

Corn } to 1 bu. Red Clover 10 to 16 lb. 

Beans 1 to 2 bu. White Clover 3 to 4 lb. 

Peas 2Ho 3J bu. Blue Grass 10 to 15 lb. 

Hemp 1 to li bu. Orchard Grass 20 to 30 lb. 

Flax i to 2 bu. Carrots 4 to 5 lb. 

Rice 2 to 2J lb. Parsnips 6 to 8 lb. 



248 AN INTRODUCTION TO AGRICULTURE 



Table IV. — Amount of Nutrients for a Day's Feeding 









b: 


















Digestible 


o 








N 


UTRIENT3 


S 






< 








< 








S 








tf 










Standard 


Animal 


w 

t 


P 


c 
'Z 

£ 






H 






h-l 


o 


Pk 


^.^ 




z 




Oxen 


lbs. 


lbs. 


lbs. 


lbs. 


lbs. 




Wolff-Leh- 
















nianii 


At rest in stall 

Fattening Cattle 


1000 


18.0 


0.7 


8.0 


0.1 


1:11.8 


WolfF-Leh- 
















iiianti 


First period 


1000 


30 


2.5 


15.0 


0.5 


1: 6.5 




Second period 


1000 


30.0 


3.0 


14.5 


0.7 


1: 5.4 


** 


Third period 


1000 


26.0 


2.7 


15.0 


0.7 


1: 6.2 




Dairy Cows 
















Milch cows, proiliic- 
















ing IG 11). of milk 
















per day 


1000 


27.0 


2.0 


11.0 


0.4 


1: 6.0 


Wolff-Leh- 


Horses 














juann 


Light work 


1000 


20 


1.5 


9.0 


0.4 


1-7 




Medium work 


1000 


24 !0 


2.0 


11.5 


0.6 


1: 6.2 


" 


Heav.v work 


1000 


26.0 


2.6 


13.3 


0.8 


1: 6.0 




Growing Cattle 
















Dairy lireeds 














Wolff-Leh- 


(Age in months) 














man n 


2-3 


150 


3.5 


0.60 


1.95 


0.300 


1: 4.5 


•• 


3-0 


300 


7.2 


0.90 


3.84 


0.300 


1: 5.1 


" 


G-12 


500 


13.5 


1.00 


6.25 


0.250 


1: 6.8 


" 


12-18 


700 


18.2 


1.26 


8.75 


0.280 


1: 7.5 


'* 


18-24 


900 


23.4 


1.35 


10.80 


0.270 


1: 8.5 


Wolff-Leh- 


Beef breeds 














man n 


2-3 


IGO 


3.7 


0.67 


2.08 


0.320 


1: 4.2 




3-6 


330 


7.9 


1.16 


4.22 


0.495 


1: 4.7 


" 


G-12 


550 


13.8 


1.38 


7 . 26 


0.385 


1: 6.0 


" 


12-18 


750 


18.0 


1.50 


9.38 


0.375 


1: 6.7 




18-24 


950 


22.8 


1.71 


11.40 


0.380 


1: 7.2 




Growing Sheep 














Wolff-Leh- 


Wool breeds 














man n 


4-6 


GO 


1.5 


0.20 


0.92 


0.042 


1: 5.0 




6-8 


75 


1.9 


0.21 


1.04 


0.045 


1: 5.4 


" 


8-11 


80 


1.8 


0.17 


0.92 


0.040 


1: 6.0 


" 


11-15 


90 


2.0 


0.16 


1.01 


0.036 


1: 7.0 


'* 


15-20 


100 


2.2 


0.15 


1.08 


0.030 


1: 7.7 


Wolff-Leh- 


Mutton breeds 














mann 


4-6 


CO 


1.6 


0.26 


0.93 


0.054 


1: 4.0 




6-8 


80 


2.1 


0.28 


1.20 


0.056 


1: 4.8 


" 


8-11 


100 


2.4 


0.30 


1.43 


0.050 


1: 5.2 


•' 


11-15 


120 


2.8 


0.26 


1.51 


0.060 


1: 6.3 


" 


15-20 


150 


3.3 


0.30 


1.80 


0.060 


1: 6.5 



See note on page 249. 



APPENDIX 



249 



Table IV. — Continued 











Digestible 












N 


UTRIENTS 


P 






■< 








< 






w 


S 








tf 










Standard 


Animal, 


ts 




c 


m 




a 
> 






H 


P 


*53 


oS 


.^ 


H 






> 


< 

S 


2 


S-5 


a 


5 

P 








H 








Z 




Growing Swine 
















Breeding stock 


lbs. 


lbs. 


lbs. 


lbs. 


lbs. 






(Age in months) 














Wolff-Leh- 
















iiiaiiii 


2-3 


50 


2.2 


0.38 


1.40 


0.050 




4.0 




3-5 


100 


3.5 


0.50 


2.31 


. 080 




5.0 


" 


5-6 


120 


3.8 


0.44 


2.56 


0.048 




6.0 


" 


6-8 


200 


5.6 


0.56 


3.74 


0.060 




7.0 


** 


8-12 


250 


6.3 


0.53 


3.83 


0.050 




7.5 




Growing fattening 
















Swine 














Wolflf-Leh- 
















nianii 


2-3 


50 


2.2 


0.38 


1.40 


0.050 




4.0 




3-5 


100 


3.5 


0.50 


2.31 


0.080 




5.0 


" 


5-6 


150 


5,0 


0.65 


3.35 


0.090 




5.5 




6-8 


200 


6.0 


0.72 


4.10 


0.080 




6.0 




9-12 


200 


5.2 


0.60 


3.66 


0.060 




6.4 












Car- 














Pro- 
tein 


bohy- 








Human beings 






drates 
and 
















Fats 








Children. 6-15 yrs. 






0.16 


0.93 




1: 5.2 




Students 






0.20 


1.11 




1: 5.5 




Professional Men 






0.27 


1.76 




1: 4.7 




Man with moderate 
















work 






0.28 


1.62 




1: 5.8 




Man with hard work 






0.39 


2.67 




1: 6.9 



1 The nutritive ratio is obtained by multiplj-ing the number of pounds of fat 
by 2 J, adding the product to the number of poimds of carbohydrates, and divid- 
ing this sum by the number of pounds of protein for the second term of the 
ratio. The first term of the ratio is 1. 



250 AN INTKODUCTION TO AGKICULTUKE 

Table V. — Dry Matter and Digestible Food Ingredients 
IN 100 Pounds of Feeding Stuffs ' 



Feeding Stuff 



Green fodder: 

Corn fodiler - (average of 
all varieties) 

Kafir-corn fodder 

Rye fodder 

Oat fodder 

Redtop, in bloom 

Orchard grass, in bloom. 

Meadow fescue, in bloom. 

Timothy, 3 at tiiffereiit 
stages 

Kentucky blue grass. . . . 

Hungarian grass 

Red clover, at different 
stages 

Crimson clover 

Alfalfa,^ at different 
stages 

Cowpea 

Soy bean 

Rape 

Corn silage(recent analyses) 
Corn fodder,- field cured.. . . 

Corn stover, field cured 

Kafir-corn stover, field 

cured 

Hay from: 

Barley 

Oats 

Orchard grass 

Redtop 

Timothy ^ (all analyses).. 

Kciitupky blue grass. . . . 

lluii^arian grass 

Meadow fescue 

Mi.xed grasses 

Rowen (mixed) 

Mixeil grasses and clover 

Red clover 

Alsike clover 

White clover 

Crimson clover 

Alfalfa* 

Cowpea 

Soy bean 

Wheatstraw 

Ryestraw 

Oat straw 

Soy-bean straw 



Total 
Dry 


Protein 


Carbo- 


Fat 


Matter 








Pounds 


Piiuri/ls 


Pounds 


Pounds 


20.7 


1.10 


12.08 


0.37 


27.0 


0.87 


13. SO 


0.43 


23.4 


2.05 


14.11 


0.44 


37.8 


2.44 


17.99 


0.97 


34.7 


2.06 


21.24 


0.58 


27.0 


1.91 


15.91 


0.58 


30.1 


1.49 


16.78 


0.42 


38.4 


2.01 


21.22 


0.64 


34.9 


2.66 


17.78 


0.69 


28.9 


1.92 


15.63 


0.36 


29.2 


3.07 


14.82 


0.69 


19.3 


2,16 


9.31 


0.44 


28.2 


3.89 


11.20 


0.41 


16.4 


1 . 68 


8.08 


0.25 


28.5 


2.79 


11.82 


0.63 


14.3 


2.16 


8.65 


0.32 


25.0 


1.21 


14.56 


0.88 


57.8 


2.34 


32.34 


1.15 


59.5 


1.98 


33.16 


0.57 


80.8 


1.82 


41.42 


0.98 


89.4 


5.11 


35.94 


1.55 


84.0 


4.07 


33.35 


1.67 


90.1 


4.78 


41.99 


1.40 


91.1 


4.82 


46.83 


0.95 


86.8 


2.89 


43.72 


1.43 


78.8 


4.76 


37.46 


1.99 


92.3 


4.50 


51.67 


1.34 


81.0 


4.20 


43.34 


1.73 


87.1 


4.22 


43.26 


1.33 


83.4 


7.19 


41 . 20 


1.43 


87.1 


0.16 


42.71 


1.46 


84.7 


7. 38 


38.15 


1.81 


90.3 


8.15 


41.70 


1.36 


90.3 


11.46 


41.82 


1.48 


91.4 


10.49 


38.13 


1.29 


91.6 


10.58 


37.33 


1.38 


89.3 


10.79 


38.40 


1.51 


88.7 


10.78 


38.72 


1.54 


90.4 


0.37 


36.30 


0.40 


92.9 


. (;3 


40.58 


0.38 


90.. 8 


1.20 


38.64 


0.76 


89.9 


2.30 


39.98 


1.03 



> From Farmers' liulktin No. 22 [Revised lOdition]. 

2 Corn fodder is entire plant, usually sown thick. 

3 Herd's grass of New England and New York. 
* Lucern, 



APPENDIX 



251 



Table V. — Continued 



Feeding Stuff 



Roots and tubers: 

Potatoes 

Beets 

Mangel-wurzels 

Turnips 

Ruta-bagas 

Carrots 

Grains and other seeds: 
Corn (average of dent 

and flint) 

Kafir corn 

Barley 

Oats 

Rye 

Wheat (all varieties) .... 

Cotton seed (whole) 

Mill products: 

Corn meal 

Corn-and-cob meal 

Oatmeal 

Barley meal 

Ground corn and oats, 

equal parts 

Pea meal 

Waste products: 
Gluten meal: 

Buffalo 

Chicago 

Hammond 

King 

Cream gluten (recent 

analyses) 

Gluten feed (recent 

analyses) 

Buffalo (recent analy- 
ses) 

Rockford (Diamond). . 

Hominy chops 

Malt .sprouts 

Brewers' grains (wet)... . 
Brewers' grains (dried) . . 
Distillery grains (diied), 

principally corn 

Distillery grains (dried), 

principally rye 

Atlas gluten feed (dis- 
tillery by-product) .... 

Rye bran 

Wlioat l)rMii. all analyses. 

Wheat iiiidillings 

Wheat shorts 

Buckwheat bran 

Buckwheat middlings. . . 

Cotton-seed feed 

Cotton-seed meal 

Cotton-seed hulls 

Linseed meal (old process) 



Total 
Dry 

M.ITTER 



Pounds 
21.1 
13.0 
9.1 
9.5 
11.4 
11.4 



81.1 
87.5 
89.1 
89.0 

88.4 
89.5 
89.7 

85.0 
84.9 
92.1 
88.1 

88.1 
89.5 



91.8 
90.5 
91.9 
92.8 

90.4 

91.9 

91.0 
91.3 
88.9 
89.8 
24.3 
92.0 

93.0 

93.2 

92.6 

88.2 
88.5 
84.0 
88.2 
88.5 
88.2 
92.0 
91.8 
88.9 
90.8 



Protein 



Pounds 
1.36 
1.21 
1.03 
0.81 
0.88 
0.81 



7.14 
5.78 
8.69 
9.25 
9.12 
10.23 
11.08 

6.26 

4.76 

11.53 

7.36 

7.01 
16.77 



21.56 
33.09 
24.90 
30.10 

30.45 

19.95 

22.88 
20.38 

8.43 
18.72 

4.00 
19.04 

21.93 

10.38 

23.23 
11.47 
12.01 
12.79 
12.22 
19.29 
22.34 

9 . 65 
37.01 

1.05 
28.76 



Carbo- 
hydrates 



Pounds 
16.43 
8.84 
5.65 
6.46 
7.74 
7.83 



66.12 
53.58 
64 . 83 
48.34 
69.73 
69.21 
33.13 

65.26 
60.06 
52.06 
62.88 

61.20 
51.78 



43.02 
39.96 
45.72 
35.10 

45.36 

54 . 22 

51.71 
54.71 
61.01 
43.50 
9.37 
31.79 

38.09 

42.48 

35 . 64 
52.40 
41.23 
53.15 
49.98 
31.65 
36.14 
38.57 
16.52 
32.21 
32.81 



Fat 



Fuel 
Value 



Pounds 

o.oh 

0.11 
0.11 
0.11 
0.22 



4.97 
1.33 
1.60 
4.18 
1.36 
1.68 
18.44 

3.50 
2.94 
5.93 
1.96 

3.87 
0.65 



11.87 

4.75 

10.16 

15.67 

2.47 

5.35 

2.89 
3.82 
7.06 
1.16 
1.38 
6.03 

10.83 

6.38 

11.88 
1.79 
2.87 
3.40 
3.83 
4.56 
6.21 
3.37 

12.58 
1.89 
7.06 



Calories 
33,089 
18,904 
12,889 
13,986 
16,497 
16,999 



157,237 
116,022 
143,499 
124,757 
152,400 
154,848 
160,047 

147,797 
132,972 
143,302 
138,918 

143,202 
130,246 



170,210 
155,918 
174,228 
187,399 

151,420 

160,533 

150,933 

155,788 
158,952 
120,624 
30,692 
1 19,990 

157,340 

125,243 

159,818 
126,352 
111,138 
136,996 
131,855 
113,992 
134,979 
103,911 
152,653 
69,839 
144,313 



252 AN INTKODUCTION TO AGKICLLTUKE 



Table V. — Continued 



Feeding Stuff 



Waste products (cont'd): 
Linseed meal (new proc- 
ess) 

SiiKar-boet pulp (fresh).. 
Siipar-beet pulp (dry)... 
.Milk and its bv-products: 

Whole milk: . . 

Skim milk, cream rai-ied 

by setting 

Skim milk, cream raised 

by separator 

Buttermilk 

Whey 



Total 
Dry 


Protein 


Matter 




Poumis 


Pounds 


90.1 
10.1 
93.6 


30 . .59 
0.63 
6.80 


12.8 


3.38 


9.6 


3.10 


9.4 
9.0 
6.2 


3.01 
2.82 
0.56 




5.10 
4.70 
5.00 



Fuel Value 

The last column in the above talkie, headed "fuel vahie," 
indicates the heat and energy power of the food. As stated 
above, one of the primary functions of the food is to produce 
heat for the body and energy for work. The value of food for 
this purpose is measured in "heat units" or "calories," ' and is 
calculated from the nutrients digested. Thus the fuel power of 
1 pound of digestible fat is estimated to be 4,220 calories, and 
of 1 pound of digestible portein or carbohy drates about 1,860 
calories. The total fuel value of a feeding stuff is found by 
using these factors. 

The meaning of the figures in the above table is that in 100 
pounds of green corn fodder containing an average amount of 
dry matter (20.7 pounds) there are contained approximately 
1.10 pounds of digestible protein (materials containing nitrogen), 
12.08 pounds of digestible carbohydrates (starch, sugar, fiber, 
etc.), and 0.37 pound of digestible fat; and that these materials 
when consumed in the body will yield 20,076 calories of heat, 
furnishing energy for work and maintaining the temperature 
of the body. 

'A calorie of heat is the amount required to raise the tcmporature 
of a pound of water about 4° F. 



Table VI. — Rations Actually Fed to Horses and Digestible Nutrients 
AND Energy in Rations 

(Calculated on basis of 1 ,000 pounds live weight) 





o 



W 


Rations 
Actually Fed 


Nutrients in 

Ration pek 1,000 

Pounds 

Live Weight 


Digestible Nutri- 
ents in Ration 
PER 1,000 Pounds 
Live Weight 


0) n 


Kind of Horses 


£3 

g 


i 




— 


a 



a, 


la 


(U c 


■0 

2 



■- a 
Q u 
a'B 

— 3 

a 
W 


Army Horses 
United States: 

Cavalry 


Lbs. 
1,050 
1,125 
1,025 

} 1,200 
1,050 


Pounds. 

/Oats, 12 

IHay, 14 

/Oats, 12 

IHay, 14 

/Oats, 9 

IHay, 14 

/Alfalfa. 21.25. 
1 Straw. 3.2 .. . 

/Oats, 10 

IHay, 12 


Lbs. 

J2.14 
|2.00 
|l.84 

]2.38 
|2.06 


Lbs. 

0.90 
.84 
.78 

.18 
.76 


Lbs. 
12.82 
11.96 
11.39 

5.87 
10.42 


Lbs. 
4.95 
4.62 
4.80 

2.34 
3.87 
3.10 

4.57 
3.50 


Lb*. 
1.25 
1.16 
1.00 

1.76 
1.40 


Lbs. 

0.57 

.53 

.48 

■ .05 
.40 
.22 

.41 
.24 


Lbs. 
8.00 

7.48 
6.88 

3.58 
6.97 


Lbs. 
1.97 
1.84 
1.94 

.92 
1.44 

1.18 

1.73 
1.45 


Calo- 
ries. 

23,300 
21,750 
20,250 

11,855 
19,935 


Artillery 

Mules 

Horses with Light 
Work 
Driving horse, Wyo- 
ming Station 

Carriage horse 


Average. .- 


2.22 

1.65 
jl.OO 


.47 

.68 
.43 


8.15 

9.57 
6.77 


1.58 

.87 
.42 
.78 


5.27 

6.14 
3.70 
4.99 


15,895 

18,000 
11,365 


Fire company horses: 
Boston, Mass 

Chicago, 111 


1,400 
1,350 


fGroimd grain, 
■1 9.38. 

!Hay, 18 

lOats, 4 

IHay, 15 


Average of 6, in- 
cluding above . . . 


1.35 


.56 


7.95 


3.20 
3.18 


.35 


1.26 


14.555 


General average 
for light work . . . 






1.57 


.54 


8.00 


.99 


.32 


5.06 


1.24 


14.890 


Horses with Moderate 

Work 
Express horses: 

Richmond, Va., 


} 1,400 

1,325 
1,325 


• 

[Corn, 4.67 .. . 

0\ts, 5.33.... 
/Br.in. 0.83.. . 
\Corn meal, 
4.16. 

\Hay, 15 

fCorn, 2 

/Oats, 19 

\Bran, 1.5 

Ufay, 9.5 

[Corn, 12 

0.ats, 5.25.... 
Ulay. 20 


1.79 

'2. 45 
[2.38 


.78 

1.03 
1.04 


11.78 

13.45 

14.96 
13.27 


3.04 

3.57 

5.32 
4.13 


.97 

1.66 

1.28 
1.26 


.45 

67 

.60 
.55 


8.19 

9.37 

9.75 
9.06 


1.46 

1.32 

2.12 


21,650 


Jersey City, N. J... 

Boston, Mass 

Average of 4, in- 
cluding above.. 


25,800 
27,000 




2.15 


.93 


1.62 


24,550 







1 Nitrogen-free extract consists of the carbohydrates minus the crude fiber, i.e. sugar, starch, and gum, 

353 



254 AN INTRODUCTION TO AGRICULTUKE 



Table VII. — Pounds of Total Dry Matteh and Digestible 
Ingredients (Protein and Carbohydrates, Including 
Fats X 2.25) in Varying Weights of Fodders and Feeds. 

(l^sed by courtesy of Professor J. L. Hills, of tlie Vermont I'^xperiment Station, 
iiiodified from Bulletin 81.) 



Pounds of 
Fodder 


21 


a 



1 u 

u 




c 




, 

j3 a 


>, 

3i 


c 
2 


"0 tc 


5? 


c 
■53 

2 


„- 
•£2 




S^ 




-1 


eS^ 


£ 




e2^ 


Ph 


1 $ 


^^ 


cu 


a a 


Graases 


Pasture Grass, 


Timothy Grass , 


Red Top Grass, 


Kentucky Blue 


» 1:4.8 


1:14.3 


1:14.6 


Grass. 1:9.2 


2i 


0.5 


0.06 


0.3 


1.00.04 


0.5 


0.9 0.031 0.5 


0.910.05 


0.5 


5 


1.0 


0.12 


0.0 


1.90.08 


1.1 


1.70.07 


1.0 


1.80.10 


0.9 


10 


2.0 


0.23 


1.1 


3 80.15 


2.1 


3.50.13 


1.9 


3.50.20 


1.8 


15 


3.0 


0.35 


1.7 


5.80.23 


3.2 


5.2,0.20 


2.9 5.20.30 


2.7 


20 


4.0 


0.46 


2.2 


7.70.30 


4.3 


6 9 0.20 


3.8 7.00.40 


3.7 


25 


5.0 


0.58 


2!8 


9.60.38 


5.4 


8.70.33 


4.8 8.7 0.50 


4.7 


30 


6.0 


0.69 


3.3 


11.50.45 


6.4 


10.4 0.39 


5.7 10.50.60 


5.5 


35 


7.0 


0.81 


3.9 


13.4 0.53 


7.5 


12.1 0.46 


6.7 12.20.70 


6.4 


40 


8.0 


0.92 


4.4 


15.4 0.60 


8.6 


13.90.52 


7.6 


14.0,0.80 


7.3 


Grasses and 


All alia. 


Green Fodder 


Sweet Fodder 


Green Barley 


Green Fodders 


1:3.6 


Corn, 1:11.7 


Corn, 1:11.3 


Fodder, 1:5.7 


2i 


0.5 


0.10 


4 


0.50.03 


0.3 


0.5 


0.03 


0.3 


0.6 


0.06 


0.3 


5 


1.0 


0.20 


0.7 


1.00.00 


0.6 


1.0 


0.06 


0.7 


1.2 


0.12 


0.7 


10 


1.9 


0.41 


1.4 


2.1 0.11 


1.3 


2.1 


0.12 


1.4 


2.5 


0.24 


1.4 


15 


2.9 


0.01 


2 2 


3.1 0.17 


1.9 


3.1 


0.18 


2.1 


3.7 


0.36 


2.1 


20 


3.9 


0.81 


2^9 


4 . 1 . 22 


2.0 


4.2 


0.24 


2.7 


5.0 


0.48 


2.7 


25 


4.8 


1.02 


3.6 


5.20.28 


3.2 


5.2 


0.30 


3.4 


6.2 


0.60 


3.4 


30 


5.8 


1.23 


4.4 


6.20.33 


3.9 


6.3 


0.30 


4.1 


7.4 


0.72 


4.1 


35 


6.8 


1.44 


5.1 7.2;0.39 


4.5 


7.3 


0.42 


4.8 


8.7 


0.84 


4.8 


40 


7.7 


1.64 


5.8 8.3J0.44 


5.2 


8.4 


0.48 


5.4 


9.9 


0.90 


5.4 


Green 


Green Oat 


Green Rye 


Green Hun- 


Oats and 


Fodders 


Fodder, 1:8.7 


Fodder, 1:7.2 


garian, 1:8.7 


Peas, 1:4.2 


2h 


0.9 


0.06 


0.5 


0.6 


0.05 


0.4 


0.70.05 


0.4 


0.5 0.07 0.3 


5 


1.9 


0.12 


1.0 


1.2 


0.11 


0.7 


1.40.10 


0.8 


1.1 0.14 0.5 


10 


3.8 


0.24 


2.1 


2.3 


0.21 


1.5 


2.90.20 


1.7 


2.10.27 1.1 


15 


5.7 


0.36 


3.1 


3.5 


0.32 


2.3 


4.30.30 


2 6 


3.20.41 1.7 


20 


7.6 


0.48 


4.2 


4.7 


0.42 


3.0 


5.80.40 


3.5 


4.3 0.54 2.3 


25 


9.5 0.00 


5.2 


5.9 


0.52 


.3.8 


7.2,0.50 


4.3 


5.30.68 2.9 


30 


11.30.72 


6.2 


7.0 


0.03 


4.5 


8.7.0.60 


5.2 


6.40.81 3.4 


35 


13.20.84 


7.3 


8.2 


0.74 


5.3 


10.110.70 


6.1 


7.50.95 4.0 


40 


15.l|0.96 


8.3 


9.4 


0.84 


6.0 


ll.6l0.80 


6.9 


8.5 1.08 4.6 


Green 


Barley and 


Red Clover 


Alsike Clover 


Green Clover 


Fodders 


Peas, 1:3.2 


(green), 1:5.7 


(green), 1:5.3 


Ruwen, 1:4.2 


2J 


0.50.07 


0.2 


0.7 


0.07 


0.4 


0.6 


0.07 


0.3 


0.6 


0.07 


0.3 


5 


I.0I0.I4 


0.4 


1.5 


0.15 


0.8 


1.3 


0.13 


0.7 


1.3 


0.14 


0.6 


10 


2.1 


0.28 


0.9 


. 2.9 


0.29 


1.0 


2.5 


0.20 


1.4 


2.5 


0.29 


1.2 


15 


3.1 


0.42 


1.4 


4.4 


0.44 


2.5 


3.8 


0.39 


2.1 


3.8 


0.44 


1.6 


20 


4.1 


0.50 


1.8 


5.9 


0.58 


3.3 


5.0 


0.52 


2.8 


5.0 


0.58 


2.4 


25 


5.20.70 


2.3 


7.3 


0.73 


4.1 


6.3 


0.65 


3.5 


6.3 


0.73 


3.0 


30 


6.20.84 


2.7 


8.8 


0.87 


1 4.9 


7.6 


0.78 


4.2 


7.5 


0.87 


3.6 


35 


7.20.98 


3.2 


10.2 


1.02 


5.7 


8.8 


0.91 


4.9 


8.8 


1.02 


4.2 


40 


8.2 


il.l2 


3.6 


11.7 


1.16 


6.6 


10.1 


1.04 


5.6 


10.0 


1.16 


4.8 



' Numbers 1 :4.S, 1 : 14.3, etc., give the nutritive ratio. 



APPENDIX 

Table VII. — Continued 



255 





>> 




1 >, 




1 u 


>, 




1 u 


>, 




1 u 




1-, t. 


d 


> "*^ u ^ 


a 




i" t4 


a 


>"1r; 


t- I. 


fl 


>>-K 


Pounds of 
Fodder 






•el 


«2 
"3 'S 


'3 





03 C3 


'S 




"O 7)" 


"3 d 


"S 







oS 


Pi 


cS 03 


^S 




cjd 


oS 


P^ 


At 


oS 


(^ 


rt'S 




H 




^^ 


H 




"-5 


H 




^-S 


H 




"■5 




Corn Silage 


Corn Silage, 


Corii Stover 


Clover 


Silages 


{malurc), 


^immature). 


Silage, 


Silage, 




1:14.8 


1:14.6 


1:16.6 


1:4.7 


2J 


0.7 


0.03 


0.4 


0.5 


0.02 


0.3 


5 


0.02 


0.3 


0.7 0.07 


0.3 


5 


1.3 


0.06 


0.8 


1.0 


0.05 


0.6 


1.0 


0.03 


0.5 


1.40.14 


0.6 


10 


2.6 


0.12 


1.8 


2.1 


0.09 


1.3 


1.9 


0.06 


1.0 


2.8 0.27 


1.3 


15 


3.9 


0.18 


2.7 


3.1 


0.14 


1.9 


2.9 


0.09 


1.5 


4.20.41 


1.9 


20 


5.3 


0.24 


3.6 


4.2 


0.18 


2.6 


3.9 


0.12 


2.0 


5.60.54 


2.6 


25 


6.6 


0.30 


4.5 


5.2 


0.23 


3.2 


4.8 


0.15 


2.5 


7.00.68 


3.2 


30 


7.9 


0.36 


5.3 


6.3 


0.27 


3.9 


5.8 


0.18 


3.0 


8.40.81 


3.9 


35 


9.2 


0.42 


6.2 


7.3 


0.32 


4.5 


6.8 


0.21 


3.5 


9.8,0.95 


4.5 


40 


10.5 


0.48 


7.1 


8.4 


0.36 


5.2 


7.7 


0.24 


4.0 


11.211.08 


5.1 


Roots 


Potatoes, 


Beets 




Sugar Beets, 


Carrots, 


1:17.3 


1:6.5 




1:6.8 


1:9.6 


2i 


0.5 


0.02 


0.4 


0.3 


0.04 


0.2 


0.3 


0.04 


0.3 


0.3 


0.03 


0.2 


5' 


1.1 


0.05 


0.8 


0.6 


0.07 


0.5 


0.7 


0.08 


0.5 


0.5 


0.05 


0.5 


10 


2.1 


0.09 


1.6 


1.2 


0.14 


0.9 


1.4 


0.16 


1.1 


1.1 


0.10 


1.0 


15 


3.2 


0.14 


2.3 


1.7 


0.21 


1.4 


2.0 


0.24 


1.7 


1.60.15 


1.4 


20 


4.2 


0.18 


3.1 


2.3 


0.28 


1.8 


2.7 


0.32 


2.2 


2.3 0.20 


1.9 


25 


5.3 


0.23 


3.9 


2.9 


0.35 


2.3 


3.4 


0.40 


2.7 


2.9 0.25 


2.4 


30 


6.3 


0.27 


4.7 


3.5 


0.42 


2.7 


4.1 


0.48 


3.3 


3 4 


0.30 


2.9 


35 


7.4 


0.32 


5.4 


4.0 


0.49 


3 2 


4.7 


0.56 


3.8 


4.0 


0.35 


3.4 


40 


8.4 


0.36 


6.2 


4.6 


0.56 


3.6 


5.4 


0.64 


4.4 


4,6 


0.40 


3.8 


Roots and 


Mangel 


Ruta-hac 


las, 


Turriips, 


Skimmed Milk 


Milk 


Wurtzels, 1:4.9 


1:8.0 




1:7.7 


1:2.0 


2i 


0.2 


0.03 


0.1 


0.3 


0.03 


0.2 


0.2 


0.03 


0.2 


0.2'0.07 


0.1 


5 


0.4 


0.06 


0.3 


0.5 


0.05 


0.4 


0.5 


0.05 


0.4 


0.50.15 


0.3 


10 


0.9 


0.11 


0.5 


1.1 


0.10 


0.9 


1.0 


0.10 


0.8 


0.9 0.29 


0.6 


15 


1.4 


0.17 


.0.8 


1.6 


0.15 


1.3 


1.4 


0.15 


1.2 


1.40.44 


0.9 


20 


1.80.22 


1.1 


2.3 


0.20 


1.7 


1.9 


0.20 


1.5 


1.90.58 


1.2 


25 


2.30.28 


1.4 


2.9 


0.25 


2 2 


2.4 


0.25 


1.9 


2.40.73 


1.6 


30 


2 7:0.33 


1.6 


3.4 


0.30 


2^6 


2.9 


0.30 


2.3 


2.80.87 


1.8 


35 


3.20.39 


1.9 


4.0 


0.35 


3.0 


3.3 


0.35 


2.7 


3.2 1.02 


2.1 


40 


3.6!0.44 


2.2 


4.6 


0.40 


3.4 


3.8 


0.40 


3.1 


3.7,1.16 


2.4 


Milk 


Buttermilk, 
1:1.7 


Whey 
1:8.7 








2i 


0.2 
0.5 
1.0 
1.5 
2.0 
2.5 
3.0 
3.5 
4.0 


0.10 
0.19 
0.38 
0.57 
0.76 
0.95 
1.14 
1.33 
1.52 


0.2 
0.3 
0.6 
1.0 
1.3 
1.6 
1.9 
2.2 
2.6 


0.2 
0.3 
0.6 
0.9 
1.2 
1.5 
1.9 
2.2 


0.02 
0.03 
0.06 
0.09 
0.12 
0.15 
0.18 
0.21 


0.1 
0.3 
0.5 
0.8 
1.0 
1.3 
1.6 
1.8 
2.1 














5 














10 














15 














20 














25 














30 














35 














40 


2.5;6.24 






. . . ■ 









250 xiN INTKODUCTION TO AGKICULTUKE 



Table VII. — Continued 





>> 




I o 


Is 




1 u 


Is 




1 c 


>. 




1 u 


Pounds of 


«l 


_c 


^- 


a 


^« 


a 


^- 


Q£ 


_c 


i« 




'S 


o „• 


•*J 


'S 


o _r 




'S 


o ^ 




'S 


«r 


FODDKR 


e2^ 


2 


■31 


3« 






■si 


s 

Ah 

1 


•e ^ 
■3| 


2 a 


2 


3| 




Mtared 


Timothy 


Red Top 


Kentucky Blue 


Hayg 


Hay, 


Hay, 


Hay, 


Grass Hay, 




1:10.0 


1:16.5 


1:10.3 


1:10.6 


2§ 


2.1 


0.11 


1.1 


2.2 


0.07 


1.2 


2.3 


0.12 


1.2 


1.9 0.09 


1.0 


5 


4.2 


0.22 


2.2 


4.3 


0.14 


2.3 4.6 


0.24 


2.4 


3.70.10 


2.0 


Vi 


6.4 


0.33 


3.3 


6.5 


0.21 


3.5 6.8 


0.36 


3.6 


5.60.28 


3.0 


10 


8.5 


0.44 


4.4 


8.7 


0.28 


4.6 9.1 


0.48 


4.9 


7.40.37 


3.9 


m 


10. G 


0.55 


5.5 


10.9 


0.35 


5.8 11.4 


0.60 


6.2 


9. 2^0. 46 


4.9 


15 


12.7 


0.66 


6.6 


13.0 


0.42 


6.9 13.9 


0.72 


7.4 


11.110.56 


5.9 


17i 


14.8 


0.77 


7.7 


15.2 


0.49 


8.1 16.0 


0.84 


8.6 


13.0'0.65 


0.9 


20 


16.9 


0.88 


8.8 


17.4 


0.56 


9.2 18.2 


0.96 


9.8 


14.80.74 


7.9 


25 


21.2 


1.10 


11.0 


21.7 


0.70 


11.6 


22.8 


1.20 


12.3 


18. 5:0. 93 


9.9 


Hays and 


Rowen Hay 


How en Hay 


Alfalfa Hay, 


Corn Fodder, 


Dry -Fodder 


(mixed), 1:5.6 


{fine), 1:4.7 


1:3.8 


1:14.3 


2i 


2.1 


0.20 


1.1 


9 9 


0.24 


1.1 


2.3 


0.28 


1.1 


1.40.06 


0.9 


5 


4.2 


0.40 


2.3 


4;3 


0.49 


2.3 


4.6 


0.55 


2.1 


2.90.13 


1.8 


7J 


6.3 


0.60 


3.4 


6.5 


0.73 


3.4 


6.9 


0.83 


3.2 


4.30.19 


2.7 


10 


8.3 


0.80 


4.5 


8.7 


0.97 


4.6 


9.2 


1.10 


4.2 


5.80.25 


3.6 


12i 


10.4 


1.00 


5.6 


10.9 


1.21 


5.7 


11.5 


1.38 


5.3 


7.20.32 


4.5 


15 


12.5 


1.20 


6.7 


13.0 


1.46 


6.8 


13.7 


1.65 


6.4 


8.70.38 


5.4 


17i 


14.6 


1.40 


7.8 


15.2 


1.70 


8.0 


16.0 


1.93 


7.4 


10.1 0.44 


6.2 


20 


16.7 


1.60 


8.9 


17.4 


1.94 


9.1 


18.3 


2.20 


8.5 


11.60.50 


7.1 


25 


20.9 


2.00 


11.2 


21.7 


2.43 


11.4 


22.9 


2.75 


10.6 


14.5,0.63 


8.9 


4 

Dry Fodders 


Corn Slorcr, 


Oat Hay. 


Oat and Pea 


Hungarian, 


and H;iys 


1:23.6 


1:9.9 


Hay, 1:4.9 


1:10.0 


2\ 


1.5 


0.04 


0.8 


2.3 


0.10 


1.0 


2.2 


0.28 


1.2 


2.1 0.12 


1.2 


5 


3.0 


0.07 


1.7 


4.6 


0.21 


2.0 


4.4 


0.56 


2.3 


4.20.25 


2.4 


7i 


4.5 


0.11 


2.5 


6.8 


0.31 


3.0 


6.6 


0.84 


3.5 


6.30.37 


3.6 


10 


6.0 


0.14 


3.3 


9.1 


0.41 


4.0 


8.9 


1.12 


4.6 


8.4 0.49 


4.9 


12i 


7.5 


0.18 


4.1 


11.4 


0.51 


5.1 


11.1 


1.40 


5.8 


10.4 0.62 


6.2 


15 


9.0 


0.21 


5.0 


13.7 


0.62 


6.1 


13.3 


1.08 


6.9 


12.50.74 


7.4 


17* 


10.5 


0.25 


5.8 


16.0 


0.72 


7.1 


15.5 


1.96 


8.1 


14.60.86 


8.6 


20 


12.0 


0.28 


6.6 


18.2 


0.82 


8.1 


17.7 


2.24 


9.2 


16.7 0.98 


9.8 


25 


15.0 


0.35 


8.3 


22.8 


1.03 


10.2 


22.1 


2.80 


11.6 


20.9,1.23 


12.3 


Hays and 


h'cd Clover 


Alsike Clover 


Clover Rowen 


Barley Straw, 


Straw 


Hay, 1:5.9 


Hay, 1:5.5 


Hay, 1:4.9 


1:61.0 


2) 


2.1 


0.18 


1.0 


2.3 


0.21 


1.2 


2.3 


0.21 


1.0 


2.1 0.02 


1.1 


5 


4.2 


0.30 


2.1 


4.5 


0.42 


2.3 


4.6 


0.43 


2.1 


4.3 0.04 


2.1 


7i 


6.4 


0.53 


3.2 


6.8 


0.63 


3.5 


6.9 


. 64 


3.2 


6.40.05 


3.2 


10 


8.5 


0.71 


4.2 


9.0 


0.84 


4.6 9.2 


0.85 


4.2 


8.6 0.07 


4.3 


12i 


10.6 


0.89 


5.2 


11.3 


1.05 


5.811.5 


1.0? 


5.2 


10.7 0.09 


5.3 


15 


12.7 


1.07 


6.3 


13.5 


1.26 


6.9 13.8 


1.28 


6.3 


12.90.11 


6.4 


17J 


14.8 


1.24 


7.3 


15.8 


1.47 


8.1 16.0 


1.49 


7.3 


15.0 0.12 


7.5 


20 


16.9 


1.42 


8.3 


18.1 


1.68 


9.2 18.3 


1.70 


8.3 


17.2 0.14 


8.5 


25 


21.2 


1.78 


10.5 


22.6 


2.10 


11.6 


22.91 


2.13 


10.5 


21.5 


0.181 


10.7 



APPENDIX 



257 



Table VII. — Continued 





>. 




1 6 


>. 




1 o 


>. 




1 6 


>> 




1 u 




Jr ^ 


_o 


>>ti 


-t t- 


c 


>>1S 


i^ t. 


fl 


i^if 


E? t. 


Q 


>>■" 


Pounds of 
Fodder 




"S 
2 


-el 


Q « 
"3 la 


o 


J5 •" 

•sl 


Q.2 

"da 


'S 
o 






"S 
o 


£1^ 

.A 




^s 


Pt 


AS 


oS 


£ 


r'k^ 


oS 




cSrt 


oS 


Ph 


oira 




H ' 




"-C 


H 




"^ 


H 




^-s 


H 




O^ 


Straws 


Oat Straw, 


Wheat Straw, 


Rye Straw, 




1:38.3 


1:93.0 


1:69.0 




2* 


2.3 

4.6 

0.8 

9.1 

11.4 

13.9 

16.0 

18 2 

22.7 


0.03 
0.06 
0.09 
0.12 
0.15 
0.18 
0.21 
0.24 
0.30 


1.2 
2.3 
3.5 
4.6 
5.8 
6.9 
8.1 
9.2 
11.5 


2.3 

4.5 

6.8 

9.0 

11.3 

13.5 

15.8 

18.1 

22.6 


0.01 
0.02 
0.03 
0.04 
0.05 
0.00 
0.07 
0.08 
0.10 


0.9 
1.9 
2.8 
3.7 
4.6 


2.3 

4.6 

7.0 

9.3 

11.6 


0.02 
0.03 
0.05 
0.06 
0.08 
0.09 
0.11 
0.12 


1.0 

2.1 
3.1 
4.1 
5.2 
6.2 
7.2 
8.3 








5' 








7i 








10 








12* 








15' 


5 6,13.9 








17* 


6.5 
7.4 
9.3 


16.3 
18.6 
23.2 








20 








25 


0.15 10.4 








Grains 


Corn Meal, 


Corn-and-Cob 


Oats, 


Provender 


1:11.3 


Meal, 1:13.9 


1:6.2 


(* D, 1:8.4 


i 


0.2 


0.02 


0.2 


0.2 


0.01 


0.2 


0.2 


0.02 


0.1 


0.2 0.02 


0.2 


J 


0.4 


. 03 


0.4 


0.4 


0.02 


0.3 


0.4 


0.05 


0.3 


. 4 . 04 


0.3 


1 


0.9 


0.06 


0.7 


0.9 


0.05 


0.7 


0.9 


0.09 


0.6 


0.9 0.08 


0.6 


2 


1.7 


0.13 


1.4 


1.7 


0.10 


1.3 


1.8 


0.18 


1.1 


1.70.15 


1.3 


3 


2.6 


0.19 


2.1 


2.6 


0.14 


2.0 


2.7 


0.28 


1.7 


2.60.23 


1 9 


4 


3.4 


0.25 


2.9 


3.4 


0.19 


2 7 


3.6 


0.37 


2.3 


3.50.31 


2 6 


5 


4.3 


0.32 


3.0 


4.3 


0.24 


3.4 


4.5 


0.46 


2.8 


4.4 0.39 


3.2 


7-i 


6.4 


0.48 


5.4 


6.4 


0.36 


5.1 


6.7 


0.69 


4.3 


6.5 0.58 


4 9 


10 


8.5 


0.63 


7.1 


8.5 


0.48 


6.7 


8.90.92 


5.7 


8.7,0.77 


6.5 


Grains and 


Provender (as 
sold in New 


Oat Hulls, 


Quaker Dairy 
Feed, 
1:4.6 


H. 0. Dairy 
Feed, 
1:3.3 


By-products 


England), 
1:9.4 


1:18.2 


.. 


0.20.02 


0.2 


0.2 


0.01 


0.1 


0.2 


0.03 


0.1 


0.20.04 


0.1 


;■ 


0.4J0.03 


0.3 


0.5 


0.02 


0.3 


0.5 


0.05 


0.3 


0.50.07 


0.2 


1 


0.9,0.07 


0.6 


0.9 


0.03 


0.5 


0.9 


0.11 


0.5 


0.90.15 


0.5 


2 


1.80.14 


1.3 


1.9 


0.05 


0.9 


1.8 


0.22 


1.0 


1.80.29 


1.0 


3 


2.7 0.20 


1.9 


2.8 


0.08 


1.4 


2.8 


0.33 


1.6 


2.70.44 


1.5 


4 


3.50.27 


2.5 


3.7 


0.10 


1.9 


3.7 


0.44 


2.0 


3.60.59 


2.0 


5 


4.4 0.34 


3.2 


4.0 


0.13 


2.4 


4.6 


0.55 


2.5 


4.60.74 


2.5 


7* 


6.6 0.51 


4.8 


7.0 


0.20 


3.5 


6.9 


0.8? 


3.8 


6.8 1.10 


3.7 


10 


8.8l0.08 


6.4 


9.3 


0.26 


4.7 


9.2 


1.09 


5.0 


9.1 1.47 


4.9 


By-products, 
etc. 


Vielor Corn 

and Oat Feed, 

1:10.1 


H. 0. Horse, 
1:6.4 


Barley, 
1:8.0 


Barley 

Screenings, 

1:7.7 


: . 


0.2 


0.02 


0.2 


0.20.02 


0.1 


0.2 


0.02 


0.2 


0.20.02 


0.2 


: 


0.5 


0.03 


0.3 


0.5 


0.05 


0.3 


0.4 


0.04 


0.3 


0.4 0.04 


0.3 


1 


0.9 


0.06 


0.6 


0.9 


0.09 


0.0 


0.9 


0.09 


0.7 


0.9,0.09 


0.7 


2 


1.8 


0.13 


1.3 


1.8 


0.18 


1.2 


1.8l 


0.17 


1.4 


1.80.17 


1.3 


3 


2.7 


0.19 


1.9 


2.7 


0.28 


l.S 


2.71 


0.26 


2.1 2.60.26 


2.0 


4 


3.6 


0.25 


2.5 


3.6 


0.37 


2.4 


3.61 


0.35 


2.8, 3.50.34 


2.7 


5 


4.5 


0.32 


3.2 


4.5 


0.46 


2.9 


4.5 


0.44 


3.5| 4.40.43 


3.3 


7J 


6.8 


0.47 


4.8 


6.8 


0.69| 


4.4 


6.7 


0.65 


5.2 6.60.65 


5.0 


10 


9.0 


0.G3 


6.4 


9.0 


0.921 


5.9 


8.9 


0.87 


6.9| 


8.810.861 


6.6 



258 AN IXTKODUCTION TO AGlilCULTUKE 



Table VII. — Continued 





>> 




1 6 


>. 




■ u 


>. 




1 u 


>> 


• u 




fc- t. 


e 


>>«? 




c 




u t^ 


c 


>"«; 


>r 1. C 


>>'S 


Pounds of 
Fodder 


"3 a 




J3 " 




2 


-£5 




'3 
1 


JS «* 

-£| 




II 




oS 


&H 


,=5 1^ 


cS 


P4 


a cj 


(^ 


a a 


O"^ Oi 


« « 




H 




"-3 


E-i 




"■5 


H 




o± 


H 


"•5 


By-products 


Tf'Aeat Bran, 


Wheat Mid- 


Wheat Screen- 


Mixed (Wheat 


1:3.8 


dlings, 1 


4.6 


ings, 1:5.2 


Feed), 1:3.9 


i 


0.2 


0.03 


0.1 


0.2 


0.03 


0.1 


0.2 


0.02 


0.1 


0.20.03 


0.1 


* 


0.4 


0.06 


0.2 


0.4 


0.06 


0.3 


0.4 


0.05 


0.2 


0.40.07 


0.3 


1 


0.9 


0.12 


0.5 


0.9 


0.13 


0.6 


0.9 


0.10 


0.5 


0.9 0.13 


0.5 


2 


1.8 


0.24 


1.0 


1.8 


0.25 


1.2 


1.8 


0.20 


1.0 


1.80.27 


1.0 


3 


2.C 


0.36 


1.4 


2.6 


0.38 


1.7 


2.7 


0.29 


1.5 


2.7|0.40 


1.5 


4 


3.5 


0.48 


1.8 


3.5 


0.50 


2.3 


3.5 


0.39 


2.0 


3.6:0.53 


2.1 


5 


4.4 


0.60 


2.3 


4.4 


0.63 


2.9 


4.4 


0.49 


2.5 


4.50.67 


2.6 


7J 


6.6 


0.90 


3.4 


6.6 


0.94 


4.4 


6.6 


0.74 


3.8 


6.7 1.00 


3.8 


10 


8.8 


1.20 


4.6 


8.8 


1.25 


5.8 


8.8 


0.98 


5.1 


8.9,1.33 


5.2 


By-products, 


Red-tlog 


liye. 




Rye Bran, 


Cotton-seed 


etc. 


Flour, 1:3.3 


1:7.8 




1:5.1 


Meal, 1:1.0 


i 


0.2 


0.04 


0.1 


0.2 0.02 


0.2 


0.2 


0.03 


0.2 


0.20.10 


0.1 


i 


0.5 


0.09 


0.3 


0.40.04 


0.3 


0.4 


0.06 


0.3 


0.5i0.20 


0.2 


1 


0.9 


0.18 


0.0 


0.90.09 


0.7 


0.9 


0.12 


0.6 


0.9,0.40 


0.4 


2 


1.8 


0.36 


1.2 


1.80.18 


1.4 


1.8 


0.25 


1.3 


1.8,0.80 


0.8 


3 


2 7 


0.53 


1.7 


2.7,0.27 


2.1 


2.7 


0.37 


1.9 


2.8!l.20 


1.2 


4 


3!6 


0.71 


2.3 


3.50.30 


2.8 


3.5 


0.49 


2.5 


3.7 


1.60 


1.6 


5 


4.0 


0.89 


2.9 


4.40.46 


3 5 


4.4 


0.62 


3.1 


4.6 


2.00 


2.0 


7i 


0.8 


1.34 


4.4 


6.60.07 


5.2 


6.6 


0.92 


4.7 


0.9 


3.00 


3.0 


10 


9.1 


1.78 


5.8 


8.8!0.89 


6.9 


8.8 


1.23 


6.3 


9.2 


4.00 


4.0 


By-products 


Cottonseed 


Cottons 


eed 


Linseed Meal 


Linseed Meal 


Feed, 1:5.6 


Hulls, . 




(0. P.), 1:1.5 


(A'. P.), 1:1.3 


} 


0.2 


0.02 


0.1 


0.2 .... 


0.1 


0.2 


0.08 


0.1 


0.20.08 


0.1 


J 


0.1 


0.04 


0.2 


0.4 . . 




0.2 


0.5 


0.15 


0.2 


0.4 0.16 


0.2 


1 


0.9 


0.08 


0.4 


0.9 .. 




0.4 


0.9 


0.31 


0.5 


0.90.32 


0.4 


2 


1.8 


0.16 


0.9 


1.8 .. 




0.7 


1.8 


0.62 


1.0 


1.80.65 


0.8 


3 


2.7 


0.24 


1.3 


2.7 .. 




1.1 


2.7 


0.92 


1.4 


2.70.97 


1.3 


4 


3.5 


0.32 


1.8 


3.6 .. 




1.5 3.6 


1.23 


1.8 


3.6 1.30 


1.7 


5 


4.4 


0.40 


2.2 


4.5 . . 




1.8 4.9 


1.54 


2.3 


4.5 1.62 


2.1 


7J 


6.6 


0.59 


3.3 


6.7 . . 




2.7 


6.8 


2.31 


3.4 


6.7 3.43 


3.2 


10 


8.8 


0.79 


4.4 


8.9 .. 




3.7 


9.0 


3.08 


4.6 


8.93.24 


4.2 




Flax Meal, 
1:1.4 


Gluten M 


real 


Gluten Meal 


Gluten Meal 


By-products 


(Chicag 
1:1.5 


9), 


(Cream), 
1:1.7 


(King), 
1:1.9 


1 


0.2 


0.08 


0.1 


0.20.08 


0.1 


0.2!0.07 


0.1 


0.2 


0.07 


0.1 


i 


0.4 


0.16 


0.2 


0.4 0.16 


0.2 


0.4;0.15 


0.2 


0.5 


0.15 


0.3 


1 


0.9 


0.32 


0.4 


0.9 0.32 


0.5 


0.90.30 


0.5 


0.9 


0.30 


0.6 


2 


1.8 


0.64 


0.9 


1.8 0.64 


0.9 


1.80.59 


1.0 


1.9 


0.59 


1.1 


3 


2.7 


0.96 


1.3 


2.6 0.96 


1.4 


2.710.89 


1.5 


2.8 


0.89 


1.7 


4 


3.6 


1.28 


1.7 


3.5 1.28 


1.9 3.61.19 


2.1 


3.7 


1.19 


2.3 


5 


4.5 


1.60 


2.2 


4.4 1.60 


2.3 4.51.49 


2.6 


4.6 


1.49 


2.8 


7i 


6.7 


2.40 


3.3 


6 . 6 2 . 40 


3.5 6.712.23 


3.9 


6.9 


2.23 


4.3 


10 


8.9 


3.21 


4.3 


8.8 


3.; 


>1 


4.7 


9.0 


2.97 


5.1 


9.3 


2.97 


5.7 



APPENDIX 



259 



Table VII. — Continued 





>i 




1 u 


>. 




1 6 


>, 




1 c 


>, 




1 C 




J: ^ 


d 


>>"S 


Jz t- 


c 


>>'^ 


J; ^ 


c 


>>m 


J; >- 


c 


^^■s 


Pounds of 
Fodder 




'53 
2 




Q « 


o 


J3 ■" 

-el 


's'S 


'S 
o 


O IT* 

■si 


"5 "3 


"3 

o 


2^ 




(ii 


c5"S 


cS 


£ 


cS cj 


oS 


(U 


Sd 


oS 


P^ 


e3 o! 




H 




"-S 


H 




"-5 


H 




"-5 


H 




"-S 


By-products 


(Buffalo or 

Marshall/own) 

1:2.4 


Gluten Feed 

(Diamond or 

Rockford), 

1:3.0 


Hominy 
Chop, 
1:9.2 


Starch Feed 
(wet), 
1:4.9 


i 


0.2 


0.06 


0.1 


0.2 


0.05 


0.2 


0.2 


0.02 


0.2 


0.1 


0.01 


0.1 


i 


0.4 


0.12 


0.3 


0.5 


0.10 


0.3 


0.5 


0.04 


0.4 


0.2 


0.03 


0.2 


1 


0.9 


0.23 


0.6 


0.9 


0.20 


0.6 


0.9 


0.09 


0.8 


0.3 


0.05 


0.3 


2 


1.8 


0.47 


1.1 


1.8 


0.41 


1.2 


1.8 


0.17 


1.6 


0.7 


0.11 


0.5 


3 


2.7 


0.70 


1.7 


2.7 


0.61 


1.9 


2.8 


0.26 


2.4 


1.0 


0.16 


0.8 


4 


3.6 


0.93 


2.3 


3.0 


0.81 


2.5 


3.7 


0.35 


3.2 


1.4 


0.22 


1.1 


5 


4 5 


1.17 


2.8 


4.6 


1.02 


3.1 


4.6 


0.44 


4.0 


1.7 


0.27 


1.3 


7i 


6.8 


1.75 


4.3 


6.8 


1.52 


4.7 


6.9 


0.65 


6.0 


2.0 


0.41 


1.7 


10 


9.0 


2.33 


5.7 


9.1 


2.03 


6.2 


9.2 


0.87 


8.0 


3.5 


0.54 


2.6 


By-products 


Dried Brewers' 
Grains, 1:3.0 


Atlas Gluten 
Meal, 1:2.6 


Malt Sprouts, 
1:2.2 


Pea Meal, 
1:3.2 


i 


0.2 


0.04 


0.1 


0.2 


0.06 


0.2 


0.2 


0.05 


0.1 


0.2 


0.04 


0.1 


i 


0.5 


0.08 


0.3 


0.5 


0.12 


0.3 


0.4 


0.09 


0.2 


0.4 


0.08 


0.3 


1 


0.9 


0.16 


0.5 


0.9 


0.25 


0.6 


0.9 


0.19 


0.4 


0.9 


0.17 


0.5 


2 


1.8 


0.31 


0.9 


1.8 


0.49 


1.3 


1.8 


0.37 


0.8 


1.8 


0.33 


1.1 


3 


2.8 


0.47 


1.4 


2.8 


0.74 


1.9 


2.7 


0.56 


1.2 


2.7 


0.50 


1.6 


4 


3.7 


0.63 


1.9 


3.7 


0.98 


2.6 


3.6 


0.74 


1.6 


3.6 


0.67 


2.1 


5 


4.6 


0.79 


2.4 


4.6 


1.23 


3.2 


4.5 


0.93 


2.0 


4.5 


0.84 


2.7 


7* 


6.9 


1.18 


3.5 


6.9 


1.85 


4.9 


6.7 


1.40 


3.0 


6.7 


1.26 


4.0 


10 


9.2 


1.57 


4.7 


9.2 


2.46 


6.5 


9.0 


1.86 


4.0 


9.0 


1.68 


5.3 



REFERENCES 

(Farmers' Bulletins may be obtained free by application to 
the Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.) 



Chapter IV 

The World's Work, August, 1906, p. 7885, "Desert Farming 

Without Irrigation." 
The World To-day, August, 1906, p. 862, "Farming Without 

Water." 



260 AN INTKODUCTION TO AGKlCULTUllE 



Chapter V 

Farmers' Bulletins: No. 192, Barnyard Manures; No. 245, 
Renovation of Worn-oid Soils. 

Chapter VIII 

Farmers' Bulletins: No. 28, Weeds and How to Kill Them; No. 
27, Canada Thistle, Circular 27, Division of Botany; No. 
132, The Insect Enemies of Growing Wheat; No. 38, Spray- 
ing Fruit; No. G, Bordeaux Mixtures, Division of Vegetable 
Pathology; No. 247, The Control of the Codling Moth and 
Apple Scab; No. 19, Important Insecticides. 

Apply to the A<2;ri('ultural Experiment Station, Madison, Wis., 
for the following Farmers' Bulletins: No. Ill, The Pre- 
vention of the Oat Smut; No. 135, The Spraying of Potatoes. 

Chapter X 

Farmers' Bulletins: No. 157, The Propagation of Plants; No. 
229, The Production of Good Seed Corn. 

Chapter XII 

Get seedmen's catalogues and read and study the directions. 
Farmers' Bulletins: No. 61, Asparagus Culture; No. 154, The 
Home Fruit Garden; No. 94, The Vegetable Garden; No. 

198, Strawberries; No. 220, Tomatoes; No. 254, Cucumbers. 

Chapter XIII 

Farmers' Bulletins: No. 25, Peanuts; No. 35, Potato Culture; 
No. 47, Insects Affecting Cotton; No. 52, The Sugar Beet; 
No. 81, Co)-n Culture in the South; No. 91, Potato Diseases; 
No. 110, Rice Culture in the United States; No. 129, Sweet 
Potatoes; No. 132, Insect Enemies of Grounng Wheat; No. 

199, Corn Growing. 



APPENDIX 261 



Chapter XIV 



Farmers' Bulletins: No. 113, The Apple and How to Grow It; 
No. 33, Peach Growing for Market; No. 62, Marketing Farm 
Produce; No. 80, The Peach-Twig Borer; No. 175, Home 
Manufacture and Use of Unfermented Grape Juice; No. 203, 
Canned Fruits, Preserves, and Jellies. 

Chapter XV 

Farmers' Bulletins: No. 143, Conformation of Beef and Dairy 
Cattle; No. 106, Breeds of Dairy Cattle. 

Chapter XVIII 

Farmers' Bulletins: No. 96, Raising Sheep for Mutton; No. 104, 
Food Requirements of Pigs, Agricultural Experiment Sta- 
tion, Madison, Wis. Study them and try to make some 
experiment suggested. by these Bulletins on feeding sheep 
and pigs. 

Chapter XIX 

Farmers' Bulletins: No. 51, Standard Varieties of Chickens; 
No. 64, Ducks and Geese; No. 182, Poultry as Food; No. 
200, Turkeys: Standard Varieties and Management; No. 
287, Poultry Management; also Watson's Farm' Poultry, 
Macmillan Co.; Comstock's How to Keep Bees, Doubleday, 
Page & Co. 

Chapter XX 

Farmers' Bulletins: No. 96, Raising Sheep for Mutton; No. 100, 
Hog Raising in the South; No. 142, Principles of Nutrition 
and Nutritive Value of Food; No. 151, Dairying in the 
South; No. 170, Principles of Horse Feeding. 



18 



INDEX 



Aberdeen-Angus cattle, 166. 

Absorption of water by soil, ex- 
periment, 24. 

Agriculture, defined, 1. 

Air, experiment to show neces- 
sity for plant growth, 8; in- 
creased in soil by under- 
drainage, 26; in soil, 23; 
made up of oxygen and ni- 
trogen, 63. 

Alfalfa, 54, 134; several crops, 
69. 

Amendments, defined, 49. 

Animals, 69-72; care of, 223. 

Annato, for coloring butter, 178. 

Apples, 150; Baldwin, to pro- 
duce, 124. 

Ashes, 49; wood, for apple or- 
chard, 151. 

Asparagus, in garden, 131. 

Rabcock milk test, 174. 

Bacteria, 43; cause of plant dis- 
ease, 85; in roots of leg- 
umes, 55. 

Balanced ration example, 219. 

Barnyard manure. See manuhe. 

Baswood, for planting, 235. 

Bean, Burpee. 113; in garden, 
130. 



Bees, 209. 

Beets, in garden, 129; sugar in, 
115. 

Berkshire swine, 196. 

Biennials, 69, 72. 

Birds and their food, 90; at- 
tracting, 96; feeding, 98; 
houses, 96; number of, 90; 
useful, 74. 

Blight, Bordeaux mixture for, 
243; peas, 153. 

Bluebird, 92. 

Bordeaux mixture, 84, 86, 243. 

Brahma chickens, 206. 

Bronco, 188. 

Budding, 125. 

Buds, 3; growth from, 117. 

Bulbs, definetl, 238. 

Bvirbank, Luther, 108. 

Butter, 177. 

Cabbage worm, 81. 
Calcium carbonate, 51. 
Calories, defined, 218. 
Cambium layer, 123. 
Canada thistle, a perennial, 72. 
Canker worm, 81. 
Capillarity, 21. 
Capillary attraction, 25. 
Carbon, defined, 04. 



263 



2G4 



INDEX 



Carl)onic acid, in soil water, 6. 
Carbon dioxide, composition of, 

64; absorbed by leaves, 7; 

used to make starch, 64. 
Carbohyflrates, in various foods, 

250-254; use in feed, 216. 
Care of animals, 223. 
Carrots, 143. 
Casein, in cheese, 179; in milk, 

170. 
Ca.sterilius, picture of, 101. 
Caterpillar, stung by ichneumon 

fly, 100. 
Cats, enemies of birds, 09. 
Cattle, chapter on, 159; advan- 
tages in raising, 100; beef 

breeds, 164; importance of 

good, 167. 
Celery, in garden, 131. 
Chalcis fly, 100. 
C^halk, an amendment, 50. 
Cheese, 17S. 
Cherries, 154. 
Cheshire swine, 196. 
Chester white swine, 195. 
('heviot sheep, 194. 
Chicken, breeds of, 204; coop, 

20S. 
Chinch bug, described, 83. 
Churn, 17S. 
Clay, 12. 
Clover, 54; crimson, 135; roots 

showing notlules, 55. 
('lovers, 135. 
CLytlesdale horses, 187. 
Cochin chickens. Buff, 206. 
Codling moth, 80. 
Colostrum, 171, 172. 
Composition of foods, table, 68. 
Compounds, defined, 40. 



Corn, 135; composition of, 216; 

effect on soil, 59; sweet, in 

garden, 130. 
Cotswold sheep, 194. 
Cotton, 143. 
Cow, dairy, 159; usefulness of, 

159. 
Cream, 176. 

Cucumbers, in garden, 130. 
Cuttings, 117, 120. 

Dairy farm, rotation for, 61. 

Dan Patch, 1S4. 

Danzenbaker hive, 211. 

Delaine sheep, 192. 

Diseases. See plant diseases. 

Dorset Horn sheep, 193. 

Dragonflies, 101. 

Drainage, methods of, 27. 

Dry farming, 37. 

Dry matter, in various foods, 

2.50. 
Ducks, geese, and turkeys, 207. 
Duroc Jersey swine, 196. 

Elements, 40. 

Elm, American white for plant- 
ing, 235. 

English iShire horse, ISO. 

Ensilage, 220. 

Essex swine, 197. 

Evaporation, 20; carries away 
heat, 23. 

Factory, of nature, 63. 
Farmer, work of. 1; knowledge 

required, 1, 2. 
Farmer's friends, chapter on, 90. 
Fat, in various foods, 250, 254; 

use in feed, 216. 



INDEX 



265 



Feeding stuffs, kinds of, 220; 
table of, 250. 

Feeds, classes of, 216. 

Feeds and fodders, constituents 
of, table, 254. 

Feldspar, 12; source of potas- 
sium, 41. 

Fermentation, in tobacco, 149. 

Fertility removed by crops, 246. 

Fertilizers, commercial, with 
root crops, 143; for hay, 
133; licensed, 48; commer- 
cial, 48. 

Finches, 95. 

Fire blight, 85. 

Flowers, 103; part of, 103; use 
of, 4. 

Flower garden, 237. 

Food, digestible ingredients, 
table, 250, 254; for birds, 97. 

Food, animal, importance of, 214. 

Food elements, how the plant 
combines, 66. 

Forest, how it may be perpetu- 
ated, 233; some advantages 
of, 230. 

Forestry, the purpose of, 229; 
what other nations are do- 
ing, 231; what our govern- 
ment is doing, 232. 

Formaldehyde solution for oats, 
244. 

Frogs, 99. 

Fruit, marketing, 154. 

Fuel value, 252; in various foods, 
250. 

Fungicides, 88. 

Garden, care of, 128; desirable 
plants for, 128; farm impor- 



tance of, 127; farm, chapter 
on, 128; flower, 237; posi- 
tion and soil for, 127. 

(termination, conditions affect- 
ing, 116. 

Glaciers, action of, in soil forma- 
tion, 16. 

Gluten, to prepare, 66. 

Good roads, forestry, home and 
school grounds, chapter on, 
226. 

Good roads, farmer's interest in, 
226 ; how to make and keep, 
226. 

Grafting, 117, 121; necessity for, 
124. 

Grafting wax, formula, 123. 

Granite, 12, 13. 

Grapes, 154. 

Growth, conditions of, 7. 

Guano, source of phosphate, 41. 

Guernsey cattle, 161. 

Gypsum, an amendment, 50. 

Hackney horses, 187. 

Hamliletonian horses, 184. 

Hampsliire sheej), 193. 

Hampshire swine, 197. 

Harrows, 36. 

Hay and grass crop, 133. 

Hay, curing, 134; for horses, 133. 

Heat, production by plant, 68. 

Herd, how to improve, 167. 

Hereford cattle, 166; cow, pic- 
ture of, 165 

Hodge, Prof., report on honey. 
211. 

Holstein cattle, 160. 

Home and sciiool grounds, 234. 

Houdan chickens, 204. 



266 



INDEX 



Horse, chapter on, ISl ; anteced- 
ents and types, LSI; desir- 
able characteristics, ISl ; 
external parts of, 182; for 
speed, 183; coach, 187; 
draft, 185; intelHgence of, 
189; rations fed to, table, 
253; use and care of, 188. 

Humus, defined, 11; holds 
water. 26. 

Hybrids, 107. 

Hydrogen, defined, 64. 

Ichneumon fly, 99. 
India, forestry in, 232. 
Indian corn. See coitN. 
Inoculation, to supply bacteria, 

56. 
Insects, classified, 70; common 

cutting, 80; description, 77; 

life history, 78; scale San 

Jose, 83; control, 84; useful, 

99. 
Iron sulphate, for killing weeds, 

97. 

Jersey cattle, 162. 

Johanna, Colantha Fourth's, 

picture and record, 160. 
Justin Morgan, 185. 

Kerosene emulsion formula, 245. 
Killdeer, 95. 

Lactic acid, in milk, 172. 
Langshan chickens, 206. 
Langstroth hive, 211. 
Larva-, in soil, 57. 
Layering, 117, 121. 



Leaves, use of, 3. 
Leghorn chickens, 204. 
Legumes, 54; as tleep feeders, 

50; as forage, 57; as nitro- 
gen gatherers, 55. 
Leguminous plants, chapter on, 

54. 
Leicester sheep, 194. 
Lettuce, in garden, 129. 
Lichens, 16. 
Light, essential to growth, 7, 

experiment to show need 

of, 7. 
Lime, an amendment, 49; as an 

aid to nitrification, 50; 

phosphate of, 41. 
Limestone, 12; weathering, 13. 
Lincoln sheep, 194. 
Loam, defined, 11. 
Locust tree, a legume, 54. 
London purple, 84. 

Mambrino Chief, 184. 

Manure, barnyard , 46 ; care of, 

47; value of from horse, 

etc., 47. 
Marl, an amendment, 50. 
Massachusetts, rotation in, 61. 
Meadow lark, 95. 
Merino sheep, 192. 
Messenger, Imported, 183. 
Metamorphosis, explained, 78. 
Mica, 12. 
Miklew, 87. 
Milk, Babcock test outfit, 175; 

composition of, 170; food 

value of, 172; pails, 173; 

separator, 174; skimmed, 

177; tester, 174; souring of, 

172. 



INDEX 



267 



Milk and its products, chapter 

on, 170. 
Milk of different breeds of cattle, 

171. 
Minor Heir, 184. 
Moisture, how the soil may hold 

more, 25; regulation of, 32. 
Morgan horses, 185. 
Mosses, 16. 

Muck, an amendment, 50. 
Mulch, surface, defined, 32. 
Mushrooms, 2. 

Nest Imilding, materials for, 97. 

Nitrate, defined, 41. 

Nitrification, defined, 50. 

Nitrogen, defined, 40; effect on 
plant, 46; in manure. 46 
fixation with legumes, 55 
removed by crops, 60 
source of, 43; with barley, 
138. 

Norfolk system of rotation, 60. 

Nuthatches, 95. 

Nutrients, table of, for day's 
feeding, 248. 

Nutritive ratio, defined, 217; 
how found, 249. 

Oats, a farm crop, 137; smutty, 
illustration, 86; to prevent 
smut in, 244. 

Ohio, rotation in, 61. 

Oil, made in plants, 63; where 
found, 65. 

Oriole, Baltimore, 95. 

Osmosis, 43; experiment, 44. 

Oxford sheep, 194. 

Oxygen, 63. 



Pandora, Lady, picture of, 163. 

Paris green, 84; formula, 245. 

Peaches, 153. 

Peanut, a legume, 54. 

Pears, 152. 

Peas, field, 141; in garden, 129. 

Percheron horses, 186. 

Perennials, hardy, 239 ; for farm- 
er's flower garden, 239. 

Phosphoric acid, in ashes, 49; 
removed by crops, table, 60; 
with barley, 138. 

Phosphorus, defined, 41; effect 
on plants, 46. 

Phylloxera, grape, 83. 

Plankers, 36. 

Plant, decayed, help make soil, 
11 ; how it grows, 4 ; parts of, 
2; the nature of, chapter on, 
1. 

Plant diseases, common and 
treatment, 85; nature of, 
85. 

Plant enemies, chapter on, 71. 

Plant food, chapter on, 63; dis- 
solved in water, 6; from air, 
7; how it gets into the plant, 
43; locked up, 9; must be 
usable, 8; source of, 42; 
stored in seed, 5; use of each 
kind, 45. 

Plant lice, 83. 

Plover, 95. 

Plow, described, 35. 

Plowing, successful, 35 

Plum, Kelsey, 108; WIckson, 
108. 

Plumcot, 108. 

Plymouth Rock chickens, 206. 

Poland-China swine, 195. 



268 



INDEX 



Polled Durham cattle, 166. 
Pollination, 100; cross, 107. 
Ponies, 187. 
Pony, Northern Indian, ISS; 

Shetland, 187. 
Porosity of soil, 21. 
Potash, 42; amount in wheat, 45 

e.xperiment to obtain, 42 

in ashes, 49; in manure, 46 

muriate of, 134; removed by 

crops, table, 60. 
Potassium, defined, 41. 
Potato I)eetle, 82; blight, 88; 

seal) in soil, 57; scab, 88. 
Potatoes, 141; grown from cut- 
tings, 121; scabby, how to 

treat, 245. 
Poultry and bees, chapter on, 

202. 
Poultry, raising and care of, 207; 

benefits of, 202. 
Products of plant growth, 64. 
Profit and loss in feeding, 222. 
Propagation, of plants, 108; 

other than by seed, 110. 
Proteid, described, 65; made by 

plants, 63. 
Protein, described, 65; in various 

foods, 250, 254; use in feeil, 

216. 
Protoplasm, 44. 
Priming, 1.54, 156. 
Pulse family, 54. 

(Juartz, 12. 

Radishes, in garden, 129. 
Rainfall, amount necessary for 

crops, 37. 
llambouillet siieep, 192. 



Ration, balanced, 217; for horse, 
example of, 221; actually 
fed to horses, table, 253. 

References, 259. 

Rena Ross, picture of, 164. 

Rice, 146. 

Rolnn, 91. 

Rocks, decayed, helps make soil, 
10. 

Rollers, 36. 

Roots, 2; open up soil, 26. 

Root crops, 142. 

Root hairs, 3; absorb water, 6- 
take nitric acid, 41. 

Rotation of crops, chapter on, 
54; defined, 57; destroys 
weeds, 58; enlarges farm, 
58; regulates food supply, 
59; a weapon against pests, 
57; Norfolk system, 60. 

Rust, wheat, 85. 

Salt, common, an amendment, 
50. 

Saltpeter, source of potassium, 
41. 

Salts, mineral, 6. 

Sandstone, 12. 

San .Jose scale, S3. 

Scab, in potatoes, 141. 

School and home grounds, 234. 

Scion, 121; for grafting, 150. 

Seeds, 103; age of viable, 109; 
table, 110; description, 5; 
maturity of, 110; produc- 
tion, 69; quality of, 109; 
selecting, 110; space and 
quantity required, 247; 
testing, 115; use of, 4. 

Seed bed, preparation of, 32. 



INDEX 



269 



Sheep, breeds of, 191. 

Sheep and swine, chapter on, 
191. 

Sheep raising, advantages of, 
191. 

Shells, contain phosphate, 41. 

Shorthorn cattle, 166. 

Shrophsire sheep, 193. 

Shrubs, hardy flowering, 239. 

Silo, 220. 

Smut, corn, 85; oat, tS6. 

Soil, chapter on, 10; constituents 
in average crop, 246; de- 
fined, 10; enriching, chapter 
on, 48; formation of, 13; 
good farm, 18; kinds of, 11; 
porosity, 21; uses of, to 
plants, 17. 

Soil enriching, chapter on, 40. 

Southdown sheep, 193. 

Sparrow, 95. 

Sporges of fungi, etc., 85. 

Spraying, potatoes, 141. 

Spruce, Colorado blue, for plant- 
ing, 235. 

Stable, filthy, illustration, 224. 

Starch, changing to sugar, 66; 
changed to sugar, 67; de- 
scribed, 64; made in plants, 
63; stored-up, 66, 67; test 
for, 64. 

Stems, 3. 

Straw, burning, 45. 

Strawberries in garden, 131. 

Subsoil, 10. 

Sugar, 65; amount in beets, 115; 
changed to starch, 67; made 
in plants, 63. 

Sugar cane, 145. 

Swarming of bees, 210. 



Swine, advantage of raising, 194; 

breeds of, 195; where and 

how to raise, 198. 
Switzerland, forestry in, 231. 

Tamworth swine, 197. 

Tanager, scarlet, 92. 

Thoroughbred horses, 183. 

Thrushes, 92. 

Tillage, for two reasons, 33; im- 
plements of, 34 ; importance 
of good, 34; object of, 30; 
to cover manure, 33. 

Tiles for drainage, 27. 

Tilling, a risk in, 33. 

Tilling the soil, chapter on, 30. 

Toads and frogs, 99. 

Tobacco, 146; effect on soil, 59. 

Tools, care of, 36. 

Topping, tobacco, 147. 

Transplanting, 154. 

Trees and shrulis, 234. 

Tubercules on legumes, 55; on 
roots, 43. 

Tull,' Jethro, 34. 

Turnips, 143; in rotation, 60. 

Underdrainage, benefits of, 26. 
United States, rotation in, 60. 

Victoria swine, 197. 
Vines, 236. 

Water, amount used by different 
plants, 22; effect of too little 
in the soil, 22; effect of too 
much, 22; freezing breaks 
rocks, 13; importance of, to 
plant, 20; movement of, in 
the soil, 20; in soil, 7. 



270 



INDEX 



Water in the soil, chapter on, 20. 

Water on surface of soil parti- 
cles, 25. 

Weather, effect on rocks, 14. 

Weathering, 13; ag;cnt, 16. 

Weeds, annual, how to kill, 72; 
biennial, how to kill, 75; 
classes of, 61; defined, 71; 
perennial, how to kill, 75; 
to kill, 33; why enemies, 71. 

Wheat, extensive root system, 
58; Fultz, produced l)y se- 
lection, 113; macaroni, 37; 
wheat and other grains, 137. 



Whey, 179. 
Winter wheat, 59. 
Wind, effect on rocks, 15. 
Wolf-Lehmann, standard table, 

248. 
Woodpeckers, 93. 
Wood tissue, 65. 
Wrens, 96. 
Wyandotte chickens, 206. 



Yeksa Sunbeam, feed of, during 

test, 216; picture of, 162. 
Yorksliire swine, 197. 



(1) 



THE END 



THE APPLETON ARITHMETICS 



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